I once stayed at a motel that was clearly near its capacity for guests on that particular night. It was almost impossible to find a parking spot for my car when I arrived, and a bus loaded with Midwestern tourists had just pulled in front of the entrance a few moments earlier. Several workers were busily paving the parking area of the adjacent restaurant, and the establishment’s customers were scrambling to avoid newly-patched holes near walkways as they returned to their cars following their evening dinners. People were everywhere that night!
As I approached the motel’s front desk, I caught an aroma of food that smelled delicious. I thought it was emanating from the nearby restaurant until I realized that it had the smell of outdoor grilling about it. I wasn’t the only person to notice it; the motel’s front desk workers were talking about it, as were the folks exiting the tour bus. Along with several others, I walked outside as I followed the scent, wondering about its point of origin. I finally caught sight of a construction worker standing at the back of his truck, still covered with the debris of his workday, cooking his dinner on an outdoor grill in the bed of his pickup before entering his room and cleaning up for his evening rest. He had drawn quite a crowd around him without even trying: motel workers, Midwestern tourists, pavers from the nearby parking lot, and even one couple who stopped after already eating dinner at the adjacent restaurant. Everyone wanted to know what he was cooking and how he was preparing it; they had caught the fragrance of something special, and they wanted to know what made it that way.
In 2 Corinthians 2.14 (NIV), the apostle Paul writes, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” Christ is attractive; when people focus their attention on Christ, they realize He is something special, and they want to know more about Him. As followers of Christ, our task is to simply carry the fragrance of Christ into every circumstance and situation of life, revealing our knowledge of Him by following His pattern and example no matter where we are or what task we have undertaken. People will notice the fragrance because of the attracting power of Christ working through us; all we have to do is wear it faithfully. If people catch the aroma of Christ about us, we’ll never lack for company…and never lack for opportunities to share the Gospel, even in the unlikeliest of places and circumstances! “Thanks be to God!”
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