Be a Beautiful Aroma

Happy Monday to our CFC Family

Aromas are a remarkable thing. Certain scents have a way of waking up memories and taking you back to moments that may have happened decades ago. It is strange how fast it happens. One familiar smell and suddenly you are right back in a specific time and place. For me, the smell of a spring rainfall does that. The moment I smell it, I’m right back at my childhood home in Kitchener in the mid 1970s watch a spring rain and with it a sense of anticipation like summer is just around the corner.

Another fragrance that stirs deep memories is peppermint. Mom always loved it. Because of this, for a time it became a bit of a Christmas tradition that I would get her a box of peppermint “After Eight” chocolates. They were her favourite, and as a child with only my paper route earnings, it was one of the few gifts I could afford. Year after year, it became a simple but meaningful expression of love, one that I took great delight in giving, and perhaps a little bit of tasting as well.

Peppermint did not stop at chocolates though. Mom also loved her peppermint tea, and that turned into a quiet rhythm in the house. A warm cup before bed became part of life. Over time, that carried into my own routine, and now even my daughter Aliyah has picked it up and has her own cup of “minty comfort” before settling in for the night.

Knowing how much I love the scent, Aliyah has made it her habit that each time she prepares her tea, she discreetly brings the empty wrapper and gently places it near my nose so I can catch the lingering fragrance of peppermint. This special moment has been part of our lives for a little while now, and even as I say it, it still brings a smile to my face.

Yesterday I mentioned a verse from 2 Corinthians 2:16 that says that the message of Jesus, “To the one is an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.”

And when I read this verse, it kind of reminds me of smell of peppermint! I can’t really imagine why, but there are some people who really do not like the smell or taste of it! And yet for others, peppermint is something they find refreshing and enjoyable. The same scent can produce completely different reactions the same way, the message of the gospel is received differently by people.

For some, it is life giving. It is hope. It is exactly what they have been searching for. For others, it is the opposite. They want nothing to do with it. Paul says in

1 Corinthians 1:18 that; “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.”

And if we are honest, sometimes the reason people reject it has less to do with the message itself and more to do with what they have experienced. Maybe faith was forced on them. Maybe they saw people who claimed to follow Jesus but did not live like Him. So when they encounter anything connected to Christianity, their automatic response is to pull back and reject it altogether.

Because if my daughter Aliyah knew I did not like the smell of peppermint but still kept putting it in front of me every night, what was once a small moment would quickly become irritating.

And sometimes, without realizing it, that is how people experience the Christian faith.

So what do we do?

We do not force it? We do not push?

No, we pray for people and trust God with what we cannot change. We live our faith out with consistency. We look for opportunities to speak when they come. We encourage. We share hope when the moment is right. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “I will pray for you” and then actually following through. We keep asking God to open the right doors so that when those moments come, we are ready to speak clearly and simply about the hope they can find in Him.

Because at the end of the day, we carry an aroma. And over time, when people see something genuine, something steady, something that actually looks like Jesus, it can begin to change how they respond. What once pushed them away may begin to draw them in.

So let us live in a way where the aroma of Jesus is just part of who we are. Not something we force or switch on and off, but something that naturally comes out in how we live, how we speak, and how we treat people.

And as you pray for people and serve them over time, the moment will come, just like with my daughter and the tea package, where you are simply holding out the truth of God to them. And instead of pulling away, there will be a moment where they pause and recognize something in it is good. Something in it is different. It is almost like they are saying, I really love that aroma. Not because it was forced on them, but because they have come to see its beauty for themselves.

And in that moment, the aroma of Christ becomes an invitation, one that gently leads them toward the hope that is found in Him.

Question: What would it look like for your life to “carry the aroma of Christ” more naturally this week?

Have a great week and we’ll see you Sunday

Pastor Dan