Fragrance

October 17, 2026

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

After a long work trip, I headed home. I was tired and wanted to get to bed. Around 11PM, I finally arrived. When I opened the door, a nasty smell hit me. The smell filled the house.

The smell was from food waste that I hadn’t disposed of the day before as I left for church. For harder pieces of food waste, we would throw them away in a plastic bag instead of using the sink disposer to prevent it from breaking. As I was leaving for church on Sabbath, I forgot to throw away the food waste bag. So, when I returned home the following day, the stink was all over the house (My family was in Korea during that time).

I was tired, but I had to do something. I opened all the windows to let in fresh air. Then I lit a couple of Yankee candles to absorb the smell and spread fragrance through the house. The next morning, I did the same thing again. I opened the windows and lit the candles. Ah, it smelled so much better.

Paul talks about the fragrance of Christ. Our sinful nature stinks really bad, and we want it off us. We would wash ourselves first, right? We must wash off our sins through Jesus Christ. Then we must put on Christ. We must put on the fragrance of Him. In this way, the fragrance is not just for us, but it also reaches the people around us.