By Micaela Alcaino
“God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. For we are like a sweet smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost. For those who are being lost it is a deadly stench that kills, but for those who are being saved it is a fragrance that brings life. Who then, is equal to such a task? we are not like so many others, who handle God’s message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his precedes as servants of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14-17
So once when I was in primary school, every day when I grabbed my bag I began to smell something really really bad, and it seem to get worse. It didn’t matter what I used, deodorant, perfume, my bag still smelt horrible, and to tell you the truth, trying to cover it up with another smell actually made the smell worse 
To my nice surprise after a thorough search one day, I found a nice rotting banana in one of the small pockets of the bag. This led me to have to empty my whole bag out and scrub it and wash it for a very long time until the smell went away, and by that time I was still paranoid that i could still smell something. So lesson being, don’t try cover up a bad smell with other smells, if I tried to find the banana in the first place when it was only in its first stages of rotting, it wouldn’t have gotten to the level it did.
*sigh* oh the mind my young self.
This verse is using the analogy of us being like a sweet smelling incense, in which it spreads among not just us christians but among all our friends, family, acquaintances and strangers. We want to strive to be ones that are fragrances or perfumes that bring life, not death.
The end of the verse says “we are not like so many others, who handle God’s message as if it were cheap merchandise” or in the message translation it says “but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap.” Just like I did with the banana, I tried to cover it up with nice smells, so that it wouldn’t appear to smell so bad.
Try to strive to be transparent in your lives and walks with God. We may not have it all down in life, but aim to live the best you can for God. Aim to be a sweet smelling incense to your friends, who smell it, but just can’t yet put a finger on why you smell so good.
In other words be like Soup. haha, don’t laugh, just listen to me. When my mum makes soup, the smell fills the whole house of yum delicious soupy goodness, but usually when I begin to smell it, its still cooking, so I can smell it, and almost taste it, I just have to search for it and wait with patience.
Be the ones that give that smell and taste to your friends. Yearn to live lives that make your friends smell that soup, and search for it so they can taste it for themselves. As humans we were created to desire things of heaven, bring that smell of heaven closer to your friends. But don’t try “water it down” with conforming to what they do, to try get them to listen. If you do, and then try to “cover it up” with a good smell, the bad smell will eventually surface. If your smell is simple and sweet, without layers of good and bad smells, people will be drawn to it.
I love when people smell good, as some of you know hahah and when I walk down the street and smell someone that smells good my nose kinda follows (don’t worry i don’t stalk… much) I just want to encourage you that if you soak up Gods word and aim to live lives pleasing to God, your friends will begin to stop in their tracks and follow that sweet fragrance your letting out.
So my challenge is to you, to stop and look at your life, and question yourselves: “are you smelling sweet or bad at the moment?” What changes do you need to make (or scrub out) to smell sweet again.
