Perfume Purchased at the Highest Cost

Ephesians 5:2 And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

One of the potential benefits of having four daughters is the welcome anticipation that one day we will be the grandparents to many. I have clearly done an adequate job of expressing my excitement because today Clara (4) came up to me and asked if she grew up big, got married, and had a grandbaby for me would I buy her a cell phone.

Someday we will be Papaw and Mimi instead of Daddy and Mommy. When I think of my grandparents, I immediately think of the smells in their homes. Each house had a distinctive odor, not necessarily sweet or offensive just different from the scent I was used to at home. You could have blind folded me and I would still have been able to identify my surroundings based on what I smelled.

This morning I am reading 2 Corinthians 2. In this chapter, Paul is encouraging the Corinthian church to forgive (Verse 7). Forgiveness reaffirms love (Verse 8). Love is a sweet aroma that blesses the world with the fragrance of Christ (Verse 14).

You can see, touch, taste or hear something and have that impression fade almost as quickly as it was made. To smell is to truly experience something. When the world encounters a believer, the bloom of Christ surrounds that meeting. It is a bouquet meant to linger for eternity.

Today, Jesus, I will surround myself with the perfume of Your presence. I want those I meet to smell You when they see me. The layers of Your grace penetrate my heart and allow me to forgive and love. Without the blanket of that forgiveness, my life would be nothing but a stench to others. Today, may Your love be so strong in me, that blindfolded someone could identify me as Yours.