As Lily, Doug and I walked to the furthest end of Saccanville yesterday to visit Jil, my mind kept swirling around 2 Corinthians 2, where the Lord had challenged my heart just that morning.
Thanks be to God,
Who always leads us in triumph through Christ
Picking our way around murky puddles and heaps of smoldering garbage, weaving past bearded goats and ribby cows, I was astounded once again by the majestic backdrop of mountains and vibrant palms... touched once again by the happy beauty of brilliant blue huts and old women snoozing in straw chairs, silver braids reaching out in all directions.
And manifests through us
the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place
"Bonswa, Good afternoon" to dozens of people as we pass, almost all of whom I recognize well, recalling as we pass the days that we had talked about Lily, talked about the Seminary, prayed together over sick children, dead husbands, empty pots...remembering the sweet moments when we talked about Jesus in each tiny dirt yard.
Jil's old house
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God
among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing
...dozens of children gather along the way to grin at "Lee-Lee", and it is SO easy to see in their wide smiles and eager eyes that they were formed by the hand of God, so easy to see that they are greatly loved by Jesus.
To the one, an aroma from death to death
To the other, an aroma from life to life.
I have long since stopped thinking about the stark contrast of my wavy blond locks, stopped worrying about the accent in my chatter, the unwavering stares towards the foreigner. In the midst of the banging pots and squawking chickens, clinking dominoes and shouting children, I am only one thing: the fragrance of Christ.
As I bounce Jil's bare-butt baby and marvel at their dry and strong new home, I worry, instead, about what I smell like to God. What about when I am selfish? judgmental? irritated? short? Am I the fragrance of Christ then?
Jil's NEW house!!!
No, I guess I am the fragrance of ME, then, which we all know is not the stench that God deserves or desires to be smelling.
But if God desires to be inhaling Jesus from this world, then I guess we each might just be the ONLY hope of Jesus fragrance where we are. I might be, you might be, the ONLY sweet aroma to God in our family/workplace/community/____________.
So many that I walked past with a greeting and a grin might be that death to death person. Their life on earth without Christ, lived in death, separation and darkness, and so...their eternity, lived the same. And to them: we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are perishing.
And a few cheeks I kissed along the way yesterday were warm with the lifeblood of Jesus, living true life-abundant on earth and with joy for an eternity of life to come with their Savior. And to them: we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved.
Yet there is no mention, here, of those going from death to life...a life lived in death and darkness can't spend eternity in His glorious light! This sweet aroma that we're called to ingest through relationship with Him and emit to the world around us won't be drawing others to Him once we are before His throne. It is NOW, on earth, that the transition from death into life must be made...and it is our precious gift to be able to play a role in that for others!
We are not like many, peddling the word of God,
but as that we are from God, with sincerity,
we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
As I prayed with Jil and Milove, Wedensis and Kendia, straddling the stream of open sewage lining their yard, it was in the sight of God. I pray that He breathed deeply in the moment, savoring the sweet smell of Jesus that so abundantly has covered the sewage reek that Stacey, without Christ, has to offer.
What a huge calling we have, family, just to BE.
To be Christ's scent.
To be holy as He is.
To be His possession and no one, nothing, else's.
Thanks be to God,
who ALWAYS leads us in TRIUMPH in Christ
and manifests THROUGH us the SWEET aroma
of the knowledge of HIM in EVERY place.
Amen (may it be so).
***"Got Power?" Update***
Thank you for your generator prayers. We have been blessed with many non-coincidental hours of EDH (city power) these last 24, with many prayers, and with lots of different ideas/options/decisions/offers of help, etc. Please continue to pray for a good, glorifying, effective, efficient option, and that we would clearly know what route to take. We are grateful that most students will be going home for the weekend this afternoon, making it much easier for 10 people to survive off little power and water than 70.
As that this ministry is one that we have received by His mercy for His glory, please pray that we would not lose heart, and that we will seek for it to be fixed in His way and time. Pray for clear direction.
Thank you so much for being a praying and helping and loving and encouraging and admonishing and sacrificial family, all that the Word asks us to be unto one another!
No comments:
Post a Comment