Driving north on Highway 17 near Bowling Green, Florida I noticed a bar-b-que restaurant on my right. The sign invited everyone to stop in to “Smokin Joe’s”. However the restaurant had a more powerful way to get customers. Instead of putting their smoker around back, they put their big black smoker right next to the road. Even with the windows rolled up everyone driving that road experienced the pleasant aroma of bar-b-que. I almost turned around and it wasn’t even lunch time yet.
The smoker by the side of the road with its pleasant aroma wafting everywhere reminds me of a responsibility that believers in Christ have been given. In 2 Cor. 2:14,15 we are told: “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”. Our duty is to spread everywhere the fragrance of Christ. God desires to use our words as we speak of the delights of knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior. That aroma of the gospel will cause some to pull off the road and inquire further as to the way of salvation. Another way we can be the fragrance of Christ is by our attractive lifestyle. When we live the life that Jesus taught, we can remind people of the beauty of Jesus. Our integrity and honesty, our love and kindness, our humility and joy are an attractive aroma.
Many who meet us may continue to travel down the road of life without stopping to consider the claims of Christ. They pass on by us but we are still the fragrance of Christ even to those who are perishing. What highway has God place you on? People are hungry for something real, something beautiful. Like the smoker on the side of the road let’s all remember our duty to be that attractive aroma of Christ to our fellow travelers.