Fragrance of Life 

The Jewish people were familiar with the scent of burnt offerings being described as “an aroma pleasing to the Lord.” 

For the Gentiles, this phrase would suggest the scent of incense being burned as an offering to the gods. This scent in a Roman triumphal parade smelled wonderful to a Roman and related to joy and triumph. That same aroma was a bad smell to a captive prisoner of war in the parade, and was associated with defeat, slavery, and death.

Christians who spread the gospel are members of God’s victorious army led by Jesus Christ. Believers are like the aroma or fragrance spread during the victory processions. This brilliant metaphor contrasts Christian and non-Christian responses to hearing the gospel. To those who do not believe, those who are on the road to destruction, believers who preach the gospel spread the smell of death, as it were. To Christians, those on the path to salvation, they produce the fragrance of life. 

How are you spreading the fragrance of Christ where you are placed? 

Lord may I ever be intentional in spreading your fragrance, I pray.