FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(08/02/2009)
CAN
YOU SMELL ME NOW?
Cindy Hong
During
spring break in our Dallas church, we take the youth group camping to
a nearby state park. Everything gets loaded into the cars—all the food
we can think of, sleeping bags, tents, fishing rods, charcoal, lighter
fluid, wood, flashlights, lanterns, and whatever else we need. But sleeping
outside in March is still quite chilly and I'm all for creature comforts,
especially a soft bed and a climate controlled interior. But the kids
have a great time, so we go. One year it was so cold that none of us could
sleep. We just shivered in the tent, listened to the water rustling on
the lake, and counted stars at Cedar Hill State Park . Finally we couldn't
stand it anymore, so we got up and started grilling our lunch at 3 am,
begging the fire and food to warm us up. The charcoal we got that year
was mesquite flavored, so after hovering over the grill for the next 2
hours, we smelled like one big piece of charcoal. And for several days
afterwards, the smell lingered—in our clothes, in our hair, in the
car. While at Target later that week it seemed that even there a faint
mesquite aroma drifted in the air. If I had spent the same 2 hours with
Jesus, would the aroma have lingered past that morning? Would you be able
to smell Jesus on me? Ai-yah, don't answer that. But we see accounts throughout
Scripture of people who had spent time with God—they are changed, they
smell different. Moses was probably never quite the same after the burning
bush experience, or Isaiah after his vision of God on the throne and lips
touched by a coal, or Peter, James, and John after seeing Jesus transfigured.
It seems so easy to smell like mesquite charcoal after grilling pork chops
or like Korean BBQ after eating at Tofu Village . Yet Paul reminds us
that we are the aroma of Jesus Christ. Does His fragrance of gentleness
and love, humility and hope, patience and joy linger on us and through
us? Because I need it more, I'll be praying that His aroma will linger
in our lives, in our conversations, and in our relationships this week,
so that others can smell Jesus on us and praise God for His work in our
lives.
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