Aroma of Christ

It might be tempting to think that salvation vs condemnation is a matter of action. If we sin, we are condemned. If we do not sin, we are saved. What if our condemnation was a matter of how we feel in Christ’s presence? What if our salvation isn’t because we were perfect?

It is easy to think of ‘heaven up here for the good people and hell down there for the bad people’ but that ignores readings like today’s passage from Saint Paul. Saved or condemned, today’s reading reveals the aroma of Christ is both/and, not either/or.

Brethren, thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation, to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all men; and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2^nd Corinthians 2:14-17;3:1-3

Our salvation is about how we experience God and His love. If we love ‘what we see’ we are heaven. If we do not, we are in hell. The Orthodox way of life is about tuning our hearts toward God, so that the aroma of Christ is our salvation instead of hell.

When we think of ‘hell down there’ we never think we are the ones burning. We think of all the bad people we knew in this life who refused to repent and believe. This ignores that fact that even the devil believes. His condemnation is because he hates the aroma of Christ.

It is never enough to believe without loving what we know. How do we learn to love the aroma of Christ? It begins with our hearts. Here’s the first step. There is nobody that God hates even if they reject Him. That is harder to accept than some think.

We like that God loves us no matter what we have done. When we think that He ‘might’ love others with the same level of forgiveness, we get frustrated and angry. Suddenly His love isn’t so comforting. Suddenly, His aroma isn’t so sweet. Suddenly, we find ourselves in hell.

I invite you today to pause in your interactions with others. Remind yourself that God loves the other person in the same way He loves. Ask God to help you see the other person with His eyes and love rather than your eyes and love. Challenge yourself to love others as God loves them.

It won’t be easy if you’re honest with your heart. You will be tempted to think the other person doesn’t deserve the same love God has for you. Fight the temptation by asking God to open your eyes and your heart. Tell yourself, “If God loves this person, this person is worthy loving.”

Then breathe in the aroma of Christ. Suddenly you will see others differently. You won’t be perfect, but the aroma of Christ will no longer be sour to your heart. Then turn to your behavior and fix what’s wrong with your behavior.

Just because God loves you, no matter what, doesn’t mean He doesn’t want you to be better, to live better, to love better. Allow the aroma of Christ to change how you see others and how you live. Then breathe it in and you will be saved.