The Fragrance of the Gospel
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.
- 2 Corinthians 2:14–15
After the Romans had effectively vanquished much of the world into submission through Pax Romana, they built a sophisticated roadway system. Through these roads, the Romans would export goods and send out messages to the provinces that were under their rule. The early church, blooming at this particular time in history, walked down those Roman roads and took the gospel to the four corners of the earth.
Today we have our own superhighway: the Internet, the information superhighway. We can take the gospel message to more people today than ever before in human history. Of course, we can use television, radio, and printed media. But we can also use new media. We need to make use of every means possible to get the gospel out to as many people as we can.
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Yet sometimes we have the delivery system in place, but we don't have the message to deliver. Some churches are a little too preoccupied with being cool and have forgotten how important it is to confront people with the claims of Jesus Christ. And if we miss that, we have missed everything, because that is the only hope for our nation. It is the only hope for individuals. Even so, some people will respond favorably to this message, and some people will respond unfavorably.
The apostle Paul put it this way: "Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2: 15).
When we share the message of the gospel, to some it will be a fragrant perfume, while to others it will be offensive, even repugnant. But we still have to bring the message. We still must invade our culture with the Good News.
