Narrow Way with Steve Phillips Fragrance
Fragrance can be heard in silence and seen in darkness. It cannot be erased. It permeates to the breath of friend and foe alike. None can arrest and quarantine its presence. Today, Fragrance is what is lacking in our boisterous, abrasive, and over-amplified religion of glamour and outlandish claims.
Of Christ it is witnessed that “He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets” –Matthew 12:19. Raucous rancor was not Christ’s means of making His presence known. Beleaguering the ears of men by accosting noise is not how He drew men to Himself and won hearts.
No, Fragrance is what moved mothers to bring delighted little children to come and be gathered into His arms. Fragrance attracts and does not repel, elicits admiration not aversion.
No one needs to command you to appreciate Fragrance or school you on how to ascertain its delights. It has its own inimitable winsomeness; perfume and putrefaction are not mistaken in their scent.
It was so with Christ. He was appreciated by all: all, that is, except the malicious ministers who could sense nothing beyond their own malodorousness. Their own stench prevented them from drawing near and delighting in the Anointed of God, though His anointing had a pleasant perfume like no other.
“Take for yourself the finest of spices: flowing myrrh, fragrant cinnamon and cane and cassia. You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer” –Exodus 30:23-25.
And so it was said of Jesus: “The Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord; to console all who mourn, giving them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness” –Isaiah 61:1-3.
Nothing is repulsive in that holy anointing; what a powerful compelling attraction there is in Christ’s Fragrance! “The common people were hearing Him gladly” –Mark 12:37. Do you delight in Him?
“Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” –Ephesians 5:2. Nothing and no one is more pleasing to God than the Lord Jesus. He has fully satisfied His Father and all in the courts of heaven. His Fragrance permeates that place as the holy atmosphere breathed there.
And when we also savor His perfection, and this Anointed Jesus abides in us, God is pleased as well. “God manifests through us the sweet Fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place. For we are a Fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one, an odor from death to death, to the other a Fragrance from life to life” -2 Corinthians 2:14-16.
What exudes from your life? Is there an unmistakable lingering sensation of having encountered something of the holy anointing of Jesus carried about as you move among men? Some will sense Christ and be repulsed: they love foul odors and perish in their stench. Others inhale exhilarating life in Christ.
“And who is adequate, sufficient for these things?” -2 Corinthians 2:16. No one. Flesh is not Fragrance. Christ in you is the hope of glory, is our life, and the well-pleasing Fragrance unto God.
We do have something, however, within each one of us: something of inestimable value that alone can release this aroma of the ages. It is your alabaster vial of costly ointment, of precious perfume.
The vessel is not the value, as comely or crude as it may be. The contents are what is of worth. Mary of Bethany has shown us the way for the Fragrance to be released. She “came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly fragrant oil and poured it on His head, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair” –Matthew 26:7; John 12:3. Pour out your most precious possession upon Christ.
That is your heart. It is contained within your earthy vessel, your body. No one will wrench it from your hand. Coercion, flattery, or threats cannot empty that content. You must choose. You hold the key.
How much is this Anointed Jesus worth to you? What is the only fitting expression you can bring to demonstrate that incalculable value of Him to God, to angels, to spinning galaxies, to saved souls?
Bring Him your heart. It’s all you possess of worth to Him and also to you. But the vial must be broken if the Fragrance will waft abroad, if that contained aroma will arise to heaven and delight a Father.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” –Psalm 51:17. Men may mock and misguided disciples deride; don’t mind them. This is for God.
And this will be your memorial: “And the house was filled with the Fragrance” –John 12:3.