Fragrance

p.d.odum@gmail.com (Patrick D. Odum) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 02:00:00 -0500

What, or who, do you smell like?

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

It's been said that Stilton cheese, the strong-smelling blue-veined cheese from Great Britain, smells like "old socks." Even fans of the, um, "aromatic" cheese have to admit that it makes its presence known. No matter how much you enjoy eating it, it's doubtful that anyone would want to wear it as a perfume. The Stilton Cheesemakers Association hopes I'm wrong about that, though. The Association has commissioned a perfume maker to produce Eau de Stilton, a perfume inspired by the aroma - or stench - of Stilton cheese. The fragrance is described as featuring a "symphony of natural base notes including Yarrow, Angelica seed, Clary Sage and Valerian." Well, who doesn't want to smell like yarrow and clary sage? An association spokesperson said, "Blue Stilton cheese has a very distinctive mellow aroma and our perfumier was able to capture the key essence of that scent and recreate it in an unusual but highly wearable perfume." Unusual but highly wearable; just what that special someone might be looking for in a fragrance. In case you're interested, Eau de Stilton is available on the Stilton Cheesemakers Associate website, www.stiltoncheese.com. But they aren't the first to recognize that the same smell that might remind some of old socks might be to others a beautiful fragrance. My wife's uncle enjoys the smell of a skunk - there's no accounting for taste. And in case you aren't aware of it, we as believers in Christ are just such an aroma. Thinking of the victory procession of a Roman general, with its pageantry and POW's in chains following behind, Paul pictures Christ as the victorious general leading those he has captured, us, in a procession before God. And thinking of the incense offered in thanks to the gods that would fill the air at such a celebration, Paul says that Jesus uses us to spread "the aroma of the knowledge of [God] everywhere." "We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ," he says. Where believers are, there the aroma of Jesus Christ should hang in the air. It hangs in the air because where believers are, the gospel of Christ is spoken. The story in which we have put our hope is a story that begs to be told, and so we tell it. In our offices, at school, in our neighborhoods, in our churches, the gospel of Jesus is told. We tell of his love, of his sacrifice, of his resurrection, of our hope in his coming again, and the aroma of Christ permeates the places where we live and work and play and gather. It hangs in the air because where believers are, the life of Christ is lived. When we serve the weak and overlooked, feed the hungry, minister to the sick, comfort those who mourn, love those who are hated, and take the part of those who are oppressed, we allow Jesus to live in us. He serves with our hands, walks with our feet, speaks with our mouths, utilizes our resources, and cries our tears. When we forgive those who have injured us, bear the wounds of those who hate us bravely, and welcome into our arms those who have sinned against us, the world around us catches the scent of Jesus. When we refresh those weighed down by their own guilt, when we point them toward the God who forgives their sins and frees them from their regrets, they inhale the aroma of Christ. It hangs in the air because where believers are, the values of Christ are held dear. When we live in the present with an eye on the horizon, the world notes the unfamiliar perfume. When we face life and its uncertainties with joy and hope, they sniff the air quizzically. When we noisily celebrate what God has already done, while waiting with anticipation for what he will do, the heady fragrance of the kingdom of God disperses the noxious, choking odors of the world's preoccupation with now and more. When we give thanks for our bodies and physical sensation without thinking that physical sensation should drive the bus, the aroma of Christ overpowers the rank smell of unrestrained carnality. Some will smell that aroma, and smile, and realize that this is what they've been waiting their whole lives for. They will detect the base notes of life in the aroma of Jesus. Others will not be so receptive. All they'll smell in the aroma of Christ is death; death of their way of life, death of their illusory and temporary freedom, death of their self-centeredness. They will respond, well, kind of like I imagine I would respond to my first whiff of Eau de Stilton: with aversion, distaste, and avoidance. That isn't our worry, though. There's an interesting fact about the human sense of smell; we can get accustomed to almost anything. A nose that's trained can pick out pleasant scents even in smells that most of us consider unpleasant. It's up to God to train spiritual noses. Many who at first find little to appreciate about the aroma of Christ later become connoisseurs. Believers continue to make that aroma known, and God works on training their noses. We can't make our world appreciate the aroma of Christ. All we can do is continue to smell like him. May our lives continue to spread the aroma of Christ in the places where God has sent us. May his scent so permeate our lives that those who know us cannot help but smell him on us. And may God give those around us the discernment to appreciate the fragrance of life when they smell it. May the aroma of Christ in our lives be, to the world around us, "highly wearable and unusual."

About the author: Patrick Odum lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Laura and son, Joshua. He is one of the ministers at Northwest Church of Christ, and an avid Heartlight fan. He enjoys writing and maintains a website of his work called Faith Web where you can find all of his articles. Email Patrick

Treasure Hunters

p.d.odum@gmail.com (Patrick D. Odum) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:00:00 -0500

What are you searching for?

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field (Matthew 13:44 NIV).

On vacation in Alaska a couple of weeks ago, my family and I got acquainted with the history of a small town called Skagway. Skagway doesn't look like much - it has a population of less than 900, and one main street lined with shops. But 900,000 people a year come to Skagway. It's a port for cruise ships, and thousands of people crowd the streets, shops, and restaurants every day during the tourist season. That's reminiscent of how Skagway got its start as a town. It sprang up almost overnight because of its location near what became known as the White Pass through the Coast Mountains. Gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896, and by July of the next year the first boats were docking at what would become Skagway. As many as 30,000 people, most of them prospectors, were in the area at any one time after that, using Skagway as a staging area before beginning the 500 - mile trek through mountains and down the Yukon River to the gold fields. For the average prospector, it would cost $1200 just to get to the Klondike, with no guarantee that they would find gold. (It's since been estimated that more money was spent to get to the gold fields than was actually brought out in gold.) Many prospectors mortgaged their homes to make the trip. The Canadian government required that all prospectors bring a year's worth of supplies with them over the pass from Skagway: about a ton of supplies for each. Most of them would have walked the forty mile Pass thirty times or more over a three-month period, bringing their supplies over in stages. A considerable number of the prospectors died in their quest to strike it rich. It's easy to look with amusement on people from a century ago who staked so much on embellished reports of the Klondike as a place where they could pull giant gold nuggets out of creeks. It's easy to wonder what made them give up so much, pay such a cost, and make such a difficult, dangerous journey. But a moment's thought, and you have the answer, don't you? Jesus said it this way: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). The fact is, human beings have been proving that true since - well, since Eve first noticed how good that fruit looked, I guess. We'll do whatever it takes, pay whatever it costs, endure whatever we need to endure, to finally get what we value most. Sometimes we call that greed. Sometimes we call it dedication. The difference, I suspect, is in the object of our desire. And maybe our reasons for wanting it. Jesus had one main talking point: he came to describe the kingdom of God and to invite people to enter it through him (Mark 1:14-15). The church has come to understand "the kingdom of God" in two ways: we've defined it as the church while we're on earth, going to heaven after we die. But that wasn't really what Jesus meant. Or, at least, not entirely what he meant. It was more of a subversive proposition for Jesus, an invitation to people who were living under the Roman Empire, King Herod, and the Temple hierarchy to align themselves with God's kingdom instead. In calling them to be a part of this kingdom - a kingdom the Jewish scriptures had always promised would bring all earthly kingdoms to nothing (Daniel 2:31-44) - Jesus was inviting them to claim their share in the life God wanted to give them. But he recognized that, just as surely as God's kingdom couldn't ultimately coexist in the world with any other, neither could it coexist with another kingdom in a human heart (Matthew 6:19-34). It requires those who would enter to exchange the value systems, priorities, and affections of a dying kingdom for new ones. There is no room for conservatism in the Kingdom of God. That's not as much a political statement as it is a philosophical one. We can either hold on to old values, old priorities, old treasures, or we can let them go and follow Jesus toward the treasure of God's kingdom. The man in Jesus' parable couldn't hold on to what he had and still hope to gain the treasure he'd discovered in that field, no more than Klondike prospectors could simultaneously search for gold and sit at home warm and safe and comfortable. Before he could own that treasure, he had to first be willing to let go of everything else. The church's reinterpretation of the kingdom of God has often been as deceiving as it is self-serving. It lets us define being a part of the kingdom of God as baptism or participation in some church. Or it lets us push thoughts of the kingdom out of real, this-world implications about our time, money, and values and out into the next world. (Where they won't bother us or complicate our lives for a while.) But neither of those understandings of the kingdom of God has much in common with what Jesus meant, and you can tell because neither makes us choose between the treasures we have in our hands and hearts and the treasure that God offers us. Whatever kind of kingdom those views describe, they're "both/and" kingdoms. Jesus describes the kingdom of God, without apology, as "either/or." That's why he couldn't talk about the kingdom without talking about what it cost those who would enter it. He didn't just talk about it, of course. The cost of the kingdom of God was no different for Jesus than it's ever been for anyone who's ever entered it. It forced him to let go even of equality with God and to become a man (Philippians 2:5-11). And then to let go even of that life in suffering and death. What the kingdom requires, then, Jesus was willing to pay himself. And in doing so, he showed us that the treasures all around us that men and women give so much for, treasures that will crumble to dust in our fingers, are not worth what we've been too willing to pay. Jesus calls us to re-evaluate what matters most to us, what we're giving ourselves up for. The treasures of this world's kingdoms are certainly bright and glittering and attractive. Their temptations lead many of us to waste our best years and give up the best parts of ourselves. He calls us, though, to give up those futile treasure hunts. He calls us to give up everything we have, but only for the treasure that really matters, the one that will outshine all the others. The one he suffered and died to give us. The life God has always wanted us to live with him.

Spiritually Muddled

mbarres@dnet.net (Mike Barres) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:00:00 -0500

How clear is your thinking?

Have you ever wrestled with a thought, question or a decision and weren't sure what to do? Of course you have. Most of us find ourselves in this situation occasionally. However, was your question an issue of confusion or of will? Was it a real question about what to do or did it just seem like your thinking was muddled because you didn't want to do what you knew was right? Oswald Chambers, in "My Utmost for His Highest," had something to say about that. In his September 14 devotion, "Imagination verses Inspiration", he talks about "Spiritual Muddle." Sanders said:

You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear, you have to obey it clear. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will think yourself into cotton wool. If there is something upon which God has put His pressure, obey in that matter, bring your imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ with regard to it and everything will become as clear as daylight.

Many times when our thinking is muddy and we think we need clarification, more thinking is not really what we need. Often we wrestle with simply obeying what we know is the right thing to do. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, knew what he was supposed to do, but was wrestling with saying yes to it (Mark 14:32-42). He did say yes - "not what I will, but what You will" - and His direction became clear. He went to the Cross and died for you and me in accordance to the Father's will. Not too long ago, I was talking to a man in a big city. He was not a Christian. The conversation got very complicated about what he believed and didn't believe. He also talked about some questions he had. I felt like the Lord gave me a question to ask him. I said, "Are you sure you aren't just making this complicated so that you won't have to act on what you know is true?" He got very, very quiet. There are times that we sincerely need direction. As God's children, we can ask for wisdom if we aren't sure what would be best to do in a certain situation. God promises to bless us with His wisdom:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5 NKJV).

Other times, however, we are simply suffering from what Sanders called "spiritual muddle" or "muddle thinking." In those times, we need to simply say, "Yes!" to God and obey.

About the author: Mike is a pastor and writer for a number of online publications.

The Danger of Being Too Busy

tbellkindred@scrtc.com (Teresa Bell Kindred) — Sat, 18 Sep 2004 02:00:00 -0500

Who are you judging before looking at your own life?

I lead a busy life. I have five children, who, even though they are older now, still need me. I have a husband, who is a brilliant health care administrator, but can't manage to find two matching socks or his favorite pair of khaki pants; he needs me too. I am a Christian writer and public speaker on the weekends; Monday through Friday I am a teacher. I am also a member of the local school board, Chamber of Commerce, PTO, and several other organizations. Like I said, I am a busy woman and I like it that way. I prefer having lots to do over having nothing to do. However, last week I was reminded that there is such a thing as being too busy. My Monday through Friday job involves working with at-risk teens. These young men and women have lived soap opera lives. No two of them have experienced the exact same problems, but the hurdles between them and a high school diploma are most often labeled drugs, alcohol, broken homes, neglect, and abuse. One of the ways we try to help these students overcome their problems is by matching them with a mentor - a man or woman with outstanding moral character from the community who is willing to form a relationship with the student. One day a month for no more than two hours, a mentor is asked to take their student out to lunch, to their work place, or other appropriate places. Doesn't sound like much, does it? But just a few hours of our time can make a big difference in the life of a child. After I ask someone to be a mentor and if they agree, then we do a background check and match them with a student. One young man in my class, I will call him Tom, (That isn't his real name.) needed a special mentor. Tom needed someone who would give him the extra attention he so desperately needed. Because Tom came to class every day with a Bible in his hand, I decided a minister might be a good match for him. So I emailed several local ministers inviting them to be a mentor and waited for their replies. None came. I decided something must be wrong with my computer, so that night I called one of the ministers I had emailed. I told him who I was; and before I could continue he interrupted and asked, "What do you want from me?" I told him about the mentoring program and he said, "Oh yes, I remember getting an email from you. Thanks for asking me, but I'm really busy at church and I also teach classes. In addition to that I have some other pressing responsibilities. If I say 'Yes!' to you, then I'll have stop doing something else in order to make time for this. Sorry, but I can't." I thanked him, hung up the phone and sat there. I didn't have the heart to call the other ministers on my list. I realized that my disappointment was causing to judge him and I could almost hear Jesus saying, "If you are without sin, cast the first stone." (John 8:7) Just like the men in the Bible story, I couldn't cast a stone because I am guilty, too. Instead of condemning someone who had let me down, I needed to take a good look at my life and ask myself, "What am I too busy to do?" It didn't take long before I thought of a few things. The elderly man who sits behind me at church was placed in the nursing home two weeks ago and I still haven't been by to see him. Our church bulletin lists the sick every week, but how many of them had I been to see or even sent a card? My list could go on and on. Every day we are given the opportunity to do good. While we can't say "Yes!" to everything, shouldn't we at least give serious consideration to the opportunities that come our way? Sometimes I suspect we get caught up in the rat race of life, chasing the cheese, doing our best to outrun the other rats and forgetting that when we get there all we get is a hunk of cheese! When we begin our day we need to ask ourselves, "Lord, what would you have me do today?" instead of saying "Lord I have so much to do today please help me find a way to do it all." Jesus was a busy person, but He was busy doing His Father's will. He lived to serve others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could do the same? "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:9 KJV) Dear Lord, please don't let me become weary in well doing. Remind me of your sacrifice and how you weren't too busy to do your Father's will, even though it meant dying on the cruel cross of Calvary. Please never let me again be too busy for you, or to do your will here on earth. In Jesus precious name I pray, Amen

About the author: Teresa is an accomplished author, speaker, mother, and grandmother. Teresa has been married to Bill for a lifetime of family, faith, and love. They are members of Pleasant Hill Church of Christ in Kentucky. They have 5 children and 4 grandchildren. Teresa is also the author of the popular women's blog called "NanaHood"!

Featured Articles from Heartlight

Fragrance

Treasure Hunters

Spiritually Muddled

The Danger of Being Too Busy