The Aroma of Christ
by Malcolm Wood
It hadn’t happened before! What had I said? What had I done to make someone dash out of team prayers in such a dramatic way? I was leading our team’s early morning devotions and using an air freshener aerosol as a visual aid to demonstrate how easily an aroma can permeate a room. Unknown to me the team member in question was in the early stages of pregnancy and the sudden blast of a highly scented spray did little to quell her morning sickness symptoms! After the disturbance I resumed my talk and was able to apologise later when I realised what had happened.
The talk that morning was based on Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians, chapter 2 where he speaks of the ‘aroma of Christ'. Aromas, or put more colloquially ‘smells’ can have quite a powerful effect on us. Some smells bring back memories of places we’ve been to, or people we’ve been with or experiences we’ve had. Smells can warn us of danger, or potential danger as in the case of smoke or leaking gas. Other smells can bring pleasure and are attractive, for example perfume, orange blossom, or even freshly baked bread!
Often we can carry with us the aroma of the place we’ve been to or the person we’ve been with – antiseptic from a hospital, smoke from a bon-fire, the perfume or after-shave of a spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend. The question each of us needs to ask is: When we enter a room or meet someone, do we carry with us evidence that we have been with Jesus and when we leave does something of the ‘aroma of Christ’ remain?
A TV advertisement of some years ago showed the effect that a certain perfume was supposed to have on passers-by as a young lady wearing it walked down the street. Heads turned! Does Christ in us have that effect? Does something of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control permeate from us and leave its effect on the surrounding environment?
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to walk so closely with you today that I’m so saturated with your Holy Spirit that something of you will be evident in all I say and do, and as a result people will be attracted to You. Amen.
Malcolm Wood and his wife Anna became part of the Ellel family as House Managers at Ellel Grange in 1990. Since then they have been involved with many aspects of the developing Ministry. From 2001 until 2015 they were Directors of Ellel Scotland where they hosted several International Schools and Operation Blairmore and helped pioneer the exciting Creative Inspiration Weeks. They have three sons.
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