Sharing in the Fragrance of Christ

Time with Jesus is Everything

The Bible tells us that each of us has an odor issue.  No, it is not THAT kind of smell.  It is something wonderful if we are Christians.  We give off an unmistakable fragrance to everyone around us.  It is the aroma of Christ.  We announce the Lord to everyone around us.   It gets stronger the more time we spend with the Lord.  But we must spend time with Jesus to be covered in His aroma.  Time with God defines us as His followers.

Have we ever had anyone comment that there is something different about us?  Have we ever seen a person and just known by looking at them that they were another believer?  This is the result of the fragrance of Jesus.  People cannot help but notice something imperceptibly different about us.  We belong to Jesus and are therefore marked as His to all the world.

An Overwhelming Aroma

My father was a fireman.  He would come home from the firehouse and we knew instantly where he had been.  The odor of smoke was overwhelming.  It was in his clothes, in his hair and even on his skin.  The smell would just assault us.  There was no way to escape it.  The smell filled the whole house if it had been a really big fire.  Everyone he met knew immediately he was a fireman.  His calling was announced by the smell of burning wood and plastic that clung to him.

When we kids would run up and throw our arms around him or sit in his lap, what do we think happened?  We were flooded with the smell of smoke.  The odor transferred from him to us.  We went away announcing to everyone around that we had just hugged a fireman.  The smell of smoke still brings me back to sitting in his lap to this day.  It defined who he was as my dad.  It also marked me as his child.

A 5yr old smelling like fire testified that I had been near my fireman dad.

The same overwhelming odor is present in a hothouse filled with exotic flowers.  The air is heavy with their scent.  It hits us as soon as we step into the room.  The whole area is dominated by the presence of the flowers.  If we spend many hours in the orchid house, what are we going to smell like?

Who do we Smell Like?

The same is true with followers of Jesus.  Time with Jesus changes us.  His presence rubs off on us.  We end up less like us and more like Him.  We cannot help but exude the aroma of Jesus.  It seeps through our pores.

A whole church spending time with Jesus magnifies the effect.  A whole group filled with Jesus is like that intense fire.   It is like the hothouse with orchids at full bloom.  The smell of Jesus is everywhere and overpowering.  It rubs off on everyone coming in contact with them.

A Simple Formula for an Awesome Christian Life

The closer we get to Jesus, the more we smell like Him.  The less Jesus is involved in our lives, the lighter the aroma.  It is quite simple.

Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus is a wonderful picture of this process.  This is when Mary takes expensive oil and uses her hands and hair to cover Jesus’ hands, feet, and head with oil.  It is a wonderful picture of devotion.

Mary gives up all concerns about propriety in order to serve Jesus.  She uses her hands and her hair to anoint Jesus’ head and feet.  She is at His feet serving Him with all that she has.

She is a simple follower of Christ doing what she can to worship the Lord.  Do we see the picture that is laid out for us?  Time with Jesus results in the aroma of Jesus on Mary.

The oil involved was very aromatic.  The Bible says that the whole house was filled with its smell.  Jesus was covered with that oil as part of His role as the Messiah.  He smelled strongly of it.  He is the focus of the account.  We know that there is deep symbolism involved but it doesn’t affect just Him.

Mary’s devotion to serving Jesus transforms her as well.   She is not the same when she gets up to leave.  Her devotion to the Lord changes her dramatically.  She is just as covered in oil as Jesus.  It is all over her hands, arms and hair.

She exudes the same fragrance as her Lord. Taking part in the ministry of Jesus has left her smelling just like Him. 

She is covered with the same anointing as Jesus.  Those who encounter Mary will know immediately who she has been with.  It is obvious that something unusual took place.  She has been near the Messiah.

The oil that covered Mary’s hands does even more than just effect Mary.  The oil and aroma cling to her hands.  Everything she touches after leaving Jesus’ feet will be affected by a bit of the fragrance.  She will leave a trail of sweet smelling fragrance wherever she goes.

It is an awesome picture of our life in Jesus.

Transformed by Time with Jesus

We are changed by time spent at the Master’s feet in the same way.  Our service and worship of Jesus allow us to share in His anointing.  The aroma of His ministry rubs off on us as we rejoice in His presence.  It follows us wherever we go like the oil in Mary’s hair.

We leave the presence of Jesus covered with the fragrance of  His anointing.  But we must serve, sacrifice, love and worship Jesus in order to have the transfer take place.

Sitting at His feet is necessary to become like Jesus to this lost and fallen world.

Where are we spending our time today?  What do we smell like?  What fragrance does the world smell most powerfully on us?

Are we soaking in the fragrance of Jesus ourselves so that we can go out and offer it to the world?