The fragrance industry has one sole purpose, to make its customers smell good. More than just smelling nice, some customers want a trademark scent that distinguishes them from everyone else wearing mass produced fragrances. To meet that niche, some perfumers test a customer’s skin composition and chemicals to create a fragrance tailored especially for their body chemistry. The resulting fragrance is tied to that person alone to create a trademark scent that announces their presence wherever they go.
After healing a lame man and preaching about the resurrected Jesus (Acts 3), Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish authorities. The two disciples were brought before the council the next day to give account for their words and actions. Peter responded with a bold, Holy Spirit directed message, proclaiming the lame man was healed by the power found in the name of the resurrected Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The council, the learned elders and leaders of Israel, were taken back by the boldness of Peter and John, unlearned, common, everyday fisherman, who were able to present an eloquent message without the benefit of formal training and education. These elders surmised it wasn’t Peter and John who were the source of this miraculous healing and the powerful message, but who they had been around—Jesus. The two had been with Jesus and the proof of their association with Jesus still lingered in the air.
If you’ve ever been in physical contact with someone wearing a particularly distinguishable fragrance, you could find yourself carrying that scent wherever you go. Whether you want it to or not, their fragrance follows you! So it was with Peter and John. They had been with Jesus and the “fragrance” of Jesus followed them for the rest of their lives and never faded. Obviously, not the physical fragrance, but the spiritual evidence of their association with the Lord had distinguished them as different. The fragrance: unabashedly bold, eloquent, and uncompromising in their faith and testimony of Jesus.
How about us? Can others tell where we’ve been and more importantly, with whom we have been associating, just from the spiritual fragrance we leave behind? Can they sense the fragrance of Jesus on us?
Question to Ponder: Does your fragrance leave proof that you have associated with Jesus?
“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”—2 Corinthians 2:15
I sincerely pray so.