The Fragrance of Suffering

Being the aroma of Christ in the world.

The priest walks down the center of the church, waving an urn of burning incense. The sweet smell fills the church as an act of worship to God, and all are reminded of the sacrifice of Christ, of how his sacrifice wafts to and fro, from the cross into the world, as the witness of God’s love.

As the church, we are called to be that sweet aroma to the world around us.

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)

In order to participate with God in his mission for the world, we must embrace the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are called to live lives of sacrifice, of affliction, and of the resurrection power provided by the Holy Spirit.

There are consequences of being a follower of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ. There are purposes for our experiencing pains, trials, diseases, evil and suffering.

Paul, in the first two chapters of 2 Corinthians, makes this abundantly clear. You cannot be missional unless you know, really know, Christ. And you cannot really know Christ unless you’ve experienced suffering. And when we have that experiential knowledge of Christ, then we are capable to ministering to those in a hurting world.

“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.” (2 Cor. 1:4-5)

Being missional is to experience and identify with Christ’s sufferings so that you can comfort those around you as the incarnation of Christ in their lives, offering His comfort.

As we live with people in this way, the scent of God will waft to and fro from our lives. Not as an evangelism program or a glitzy new outreach paradigm, but as authentic lives lived among those in need.

Our experiences of suffering are the very essence of what it means to be incarnational in this world. Some will see our suffering and say, “No thank you. Not for me. That smells like death.” But others will smell it what for what it really is.

“To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” (2 Cor 2:16)

We are to present our bodies as a “living sacrifice,” and when we do, it is “a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

Are we willing to be that kind of aromatic witness to those around us?

Let’s not make ourselves, with our missional programs, merely “peddlers of God’s word” (2 Cor. 2:17a), but let us be what Paul and his companions were, “men of sincerity, commissioned by God, in the sight of God, speaking in Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:17b)

How can you be the aroma of Christ in your workplace this week? In your home? In your neighborhood? With your friends and family? With a stranger?