Day 240

Job 28:1–30:31; 2 Corinthians 2:12-17; Psalm 42:1-11; Proverbs 22:7

I HAVE AN essential-oil diffuser in both my office and my bedroom. If I drop some lavender or eucalyptus into it and return later, I am greeted by the aroma at once. The smell is invisible, and I may not give conscious attention to it, but it will have changed the atmosphere in my work or sleep spaces.

The same happens when we walk into a kitchen where fresh cookies are coming out of the oven or enter a room where a scented candle is burning —the aroma changes the atmosphere in subtle yet profound ways that affect (and even alter) our experience. Paul spoke of this in a spiritual sense in our reading from 2 Corinthians today:

He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.

Consider for a moment what your words might smell like. What fragrance do your actions emit? Do your thoughts, words, and deeds produce the aroma of Christ? Does the impact of your life change the atmosphere in subtle-yet-profound ways when you offer your presence in a situation? Or is the fragrance of your life repellent?

Let’s consider today the aroma we are releasing into the world through the choices we make, the conversations we have, and the actions we take. But how will we know if we are releasing the aroma of Christ? David gives us the correct posture of heart in our reading from Psalms today: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” (Psalm 42:1-2).

When our hearts are aligned with this psalm, we will certainly be “a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.”

MEDITATION:

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again —my Savior and my God!