“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.” (2 Cor 2:14-16)
Christ is building His church, a feature not to be kept hidden in a personal showroom but always on display, a demonstration of yet another great thing He has done. Triumph cannot be contained--it must be spread. Notice the text, saying: “God . . . through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
Interesting that the triumph of Christ is described in the context of the five senses, specifically, the sense of smell. Smell is the way we tell people apart. You can tell a clean person from an unclean person by smell. Anything fresh, clean is appealing, has a good smell while others bear smells that bring about unquestionable avoidance.
The smell of Christ’s triumph is like death to those who are perishing and life to those who are being saved. A while back I gave some gospels tracts to men gathered around the back of a pick-up truck outside a grocery store one evening. When they began to hear the gospel, I was strongly encouraged to carry on with my business, so found my way into the store. Ten minutes later, one of those men found me in the dairy section because he wanted to talk about the gospel.
You do smell, don't you? Make certain you smell; that is, spread the fragrance of God all around.
