Fragrance, Light, and Salt!
- Apr 27
- 5 min read
First of all, allow me to say that our culture is fixated on smell.
Billions of dollars a year are spent on perfumes, colognes, household fragrances, car fragrance, etc.
Most people want things to smell good. Take me for instance: I like to smell good. I like my house to smell good, I like my clothes to smell good. I like the inside of my car to smell good. I like colognes and have several different kinds. I love colognes!
From a biblical perspective, it is interesting to note the following:
In the Book Exodus…..11 times there was to be fragrance at the altar, in the Holy Place, on the Horns of the Altar, around the Burnt offerings.
In the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy………The Lord required the priests to offer up to Him offerings (animal, drink, burnt, etc.) which became a smoothing aroma to the Lord. This is mentioned many times in these two books.
In the Book of the Song of Solomon….. 8 times fragrances are mentioned. For instance:
“May the
fragrance
of your breath be like apples.”
(Song of Solomon 7:8)
“While the king
was at his table,
My perfume
gave forth its
fragrance
(Song of Solomon 1:12 (NASB95)
“How beautiful is your love,
my sister,
my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the
fragrance of your oils
than all
kinds of spices!
(Song of Solomon 4:10 (NASB95)
In the Book of John (Chapter 12:3)…..John records:
“Mary then took a pound of
very costly perfume
of pure nard,
and
anointed the feet of Jesus.
and
wiped His feet with her hair;
and
the
house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
It could be said that God and Jesus love sweet smelling fragrances or aromas based on a few of the Scriptures noted above. But the ultimate sacrifice which yielded the greatest fragrance or aroma was Christ sacrifice on the Cross which Apostle Paul records:
He (Christ) loved us
and
offered himself
as a sacrifice for us,
a pleasing aroma to God.
Ephesians 5:2 (NLT)
Other translations of “a pleasing aroma to God" say:
…..a sweet fragrance
…..a fragrant aroma
…..a sweet smelling savior
…..a fragrant smell
Out of Christ’s sacrifice (pain, suffering, and death) on the Cross which was a sweet aroma to the Father in heaven, the Christian’s life should reflect what Apostle Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit penned:
Our lives are a
Christ-like fragrance
rising up to God.
But this
fragrance
is perceived differently
by
those who are being saved
and
by
those who are perishing.
To those
who are perishing,
we are a
dreadful
smell of death and doom.
But to those
who are being saved,
we are a life-giving perfume.
And who is adequate for such a task as this?
2 Corinthians 2:15–16 (NLT)
Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God……The lives of born-again Christians should be a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.
In other words, the “sold out” follower of Christ should reflect a life centered in Christ and His Cross. It should be a life of demonstrating obedience to the Word of God, the demonstration the Fruit and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. This becomes a sweet aroma to the Father and His Son.
Those Christians who are spreading the fragrance of Christ are a “life-giving perfume” to other Christians. They smell good in terms of their walking with Christ, seeking Christ, speaking of Christ, serving Christ, and worshipping and praising Christ.
The greater they demonstrate these things the greater they are able to project the sweet aroma of Christ to their brothers and sisters in the Lord.
At the same time, when the sweet aroma of Christ comes in contact with those who are perishing, such a contact can become a “dreadful smell of death and doom.” But how can that be? How can the sweet aroma or fragrance of Christ be a “dreadful smell of death and doom?.”
The sweet aroma of Christ in His witnessing and testifying disciples brings conviction and a call to repentance of sin, wickedness, and transgression against God on the part of those unsaved.
The unsaved can perceive such a testimony as a call to make a decision to leave their sinful lifestyle. Thus, the call is to make a decision – to turn over or submit their lives to Christ which is a sweet-smelling decision or to reject Christ which makes the call a smell of death and doom to their sinful and fleshly lifestyle. Death here means physical death and doom and entering into the fires of hell after this life is over.
“And who is adequate for such a task as this?......” What does Apostle Paul mean by this statement? In other words, he may be saying that by carrying the aroma of Christ to those saved or those unsaved is a high and huge calling which requires extraordinary consecration and dedication to Christ and to the mission of Christ to go into all the world and disciple the nations or peoples.
Such a mission requires not only to be a sweet-smelling aroma but also to be the light and salt of the Kingdom of God. Christ said, “You are to be the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and “You are to be the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).
What a tremendous responsibility - a fragrance, a light, and salt to believers and unbelievers. The “sold-out” disciple of Christ is to take Christ as the fragrance in behavior, speech, and action; Christ as the Light in sharing the Gospel of Christ; and Christ as the Salt who gives flavor, protection, direction, power, and stability in the presentation of the Gospel to individuals and nations of the world.
As Apostle Paul recorded, “And who is adequate for such a task as this? Are you my friend who is reading this? Are you a sweet aroma representing God to others? Are you a light shining the Gospel wherever you go? Are you tasty salt presenting the message of salvation to those who are perishing in the world.?
If you are, then truly you are an extraordinary disciple of Christ rising above the ordinary who are “lukewarm” and satisfied with being an ordinary disciple of Christ who ignore or dismiss being a fragrance, light, and salt to those who are perishing right in their own neighbor, their own workplace, their own of community, their own city, their own state, their own country. or in their own workplace, or even in their own church setting.
God help us to be Your “burden-bearer” carrying Your fragrance, light, and salt of Your Kingdom in a world filled with sin, rebellion, violence, war, sickness, disease, hate, and utter confusion. In Jesus Name, Amen and Amen.
Rich Arnold
Servant of the Lord
311 Adelaide Ave SW
Hartville, Ohio 44632
330-704-9306