Who doesn’t like the smell of bacon?
That thought took me to an interesting comment Paul made to the Corinthians. “We are the fragrance of Christ,” he said.
And that thought took me back forty years to a preaching visit a good friend of mine and I made to the Outer Hebrides islands off the west coast of Scotland, the site of the last known revival in the United Kingdom. We made a stop en route on the Isle Of Skye, and there we met with a godly Presbyterian minister, who related to us a remarkable story.
He had presided over a church prayer meeting where the presence of God was almost tangible. The meeting ended and the church members made their various ways home. Then he received a phone call from someone who had been in the meeting. They could not explain the fact that the most fragrant smell of roses had filled their car all the way home from church. Then he received another call. And another. In the end, every single person at that prayer meeting had had the same experience as they drove home. He explained that to us as the fragrance of Christ.
A friend of mine is in the process of putting a billboard up in Phoenix. The billboard asks people to describe in one word what they think of Christians. Yes, there will always be those who would find fault with Jesus if he walked into their lives. But maybe we need to hear some of their answers.
What we really should be is the fragrance of Christ. Our lives should witness to something beautiful, something everyone who meets us wants to have.
One of my undergraduate roommates spent a lot of his time in partying and everything that goes along with it. His vocabulary had more profanity than words. Yet at the end of three years of living in the same house, he told me he wanted what I had, but that he wasn’t willing to pay the price. And so Paul adds that to some we are the fragrance not of life but of death. Not because of a terrible witness, but because our witness is true enough that it convicts them of sin they are not willing to give up.
That brings me to my final thought. Someone once said if you were standing on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
So as we look at ourselves, we need to ask the question if there’s enough bacon in our lives to generate that irresistible aroma.
It’s up to us to put breakfast on — only God can bring people in to eat.
But without that smell, nothing much is going to happen.
I suggest you ponder my words while enjoying a few slices of bacon.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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