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“For we are unto God a sweet fragrance of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are a fragrance of death unto death; and to the other the fragrance of life unto life.”  2 Cor. 2:15-16

If a Christian is living where they should be living (in their walk with the Lord) then they will be putting off a spiritual fragrance to other people.  This fragrance is undetectable and un-smelled in the natural.  You cannot smell it.  It is a spiritual aroma that is exuded from our spirit.  And other people can pick it up in their spirits.

I’m reminded of the story that Smith Wigglesworth’s closest friend told.  Smith had never been on a gondola before.  And so Stanley Frodsham took him on a vacation tot the Swiss Alps so that he could ride a gondola.  When they arrived there from England, it was under construction.  Stanley told the construction foreman that they had come from England just to ride the gondola, and could he please allow Smith just to ride up and then come right down.

The foreman agreed to this and told them that at shift change Smith could ride up with the new shift of workers and would have to come right back down with the shift that was ending and going home.  So the time came and Smith got on and rode it up.  When he came back down Stanley noticed that all the same men were still on the gondola.  So he just knew that Smith had been his old self and passed out tracts and preached the gospel to them and had their undivided attention.

As they were walking back to the car Stanley mentioned that he had noticed that all the same men were still on the gondola with him and he wanted to know what Smith had said to them.  And Smith replied, “I said not one word all the way up, and when we got to the top they all asked if they could ride back down with me again.  And I said not one word to them all the way down either; but I left them with something they will never forget: the presence and fragrance of Christ.”

He was on a train one time just looking out the window.  He wasn’t praying or reading his bible, he was just enjoying the scenery and the guy across the seat from him put his paper down very suddenly and said, “Man, you convict me of my sin.”  Smith hadn’t said one single word to him. 

What happened in these two instances?  The fragrance of Christ was emanating from Smith’s spirit to those around him.  It’s as if one gets on an elevator with a nice cologne on and the other people on the elevator can smell it, and they know who is wearing it.  And after he exits the elevator, the smell lingers there so that others will also be able to smell it long after the man is gone.

In my personal life I could tell you many stories like this, but I will refrain and just tell you the latest one that happened to me.  I was on a plane last week from London, England to Nairobi, Kenya to minister.  That particular leg of the journey was 9 hours long.  I said hello to the man sitting next to me and he introduced himself as David.  Nothing else was said. And 7 hours into the flight he asked me if I was a Christian and I informed him that I was and that I was on my way to Kenya to minister for a month.

He asked me if I would pray for him.  I don’t think he was expecting me to do it right there on the plane.  But I immediately began to pray for David that the Lord would capture his heart and really speak to him and show Himself to David in the way that David needed so that he could, and would, fully give his heart and life to Jesus.  My prayer was long because my heart was aching for him and I knew he was hurting and was running from something.  Plus he had drank 7 bottles of wine up to this point.  Yeah…he was empty and hurting.

When I finished praying he turned and said to me, “Robert, I think you just saved my life.  Seriously, I really think you just saved my life.”  I don’t know what happened to David after we stood in line together to get our Visas and immigration stamp.  But he said goodbye to me as he walked through and he had a smile on his face.

What did David sense in his spirit?  Christ in me wooing him and drawing him.  I can’t explain how it happens; I just know that it does.  And the more separated from the world a man is and the more holy and righteous his living is, the more frequent these instances occur.

Do you put out a fragrance that people can sense when they are around you? If not, then ask yourself this…why not?  You might be the only portion of Christ they will ever encounter; and did your living null-and-void the fruit that Christ was hoping to gain through you?

Other spiritually sensitive Christians will pick up on it very quick.  It cannot be hidden from them.  But some would ask, “How can I have this aroma where people are really affected by my presence?” And my answer to you is very simple: deny yourself, forsake all sin, turn your back on the world and the spirit of the world, seek God as never before and spend much time in His word, and these type of things will become common everyday occurrences for you. 

Are you really willing to pay the price with your self-life so that the Christ-life might emanate from you and really bless others?  Or is the self-life (your will) so important to you to keep that you are willing to hold on to it at the suffering of others?

“I mean, really, come on…someone else can just minister to them, right?  Just let someone else do it.  I love my life and all the things in my life and I really don’t want anything interfering with that.” 

It is sad, but many say the above statement; some with their very words and many more say it by their actions.  The only difference between the sheep and the goats was what they did…and did not…DO!!

All I can do is tell you the truth and what you choose to do with it is your business.  But God has set before you this day life and death…therefore choose life that it may be well with you and your descendants forever. 

May God have mercy on our souls in that great and fearful day when all the words, deeds, thoughts, and motives of every heart is made manifest before Christ and before all.  Will you be found naked and ashamed, and will your portion be with the hypocrites?  There is only group of people that Jesus ever turned away, and they were the hypocrites.