Get this… 2 Corinthians 2:15-17
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Are you living like the fragrance of Christ to a world that is both living and perishing? Am I?
That last verse is powerful! We are not just walking around like salespeople for God – as it He needed salespeople. We are the living, breathing, speaking aroma of Christ. “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Jesus.” [1 John 4:17]
Paul continues his plea… 2 Corinthians 3:1-3
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Are you looking for proof? Look at the work of God in the hearts and lives of His followers.
Everyone who follows Christ should be an example of Christ. What does it mean to be a fully devoted follower of Christ? The quickest answer I can think to that question is “I’m not sure everything that entails, but I sure do know that I can’t do that by myself.” Everyone who tries to follow Christ without being changed by Christ and sustained by Christ will inevitably miss out on the abundant life that Christ speaks of.
The point is to find our capability, our sufficiency, our everything in Christ.
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [2 Corinthians 3:4-6]
When you follow Jesus, you are a minister of the new covenant, a living example of his love. Don’t just speak and do things for Christ – speak and do them in Christ.
