Stench vs. Fragrance

1 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2-3 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Reading linearly this just reminds us that we are as much Christ as a lot of people will ever see. As we live, shop, eat, work, go out, tip our wait staff, golf, drive with our ANC bumper stickers, pick up our cleaning, wear our ANC shirts, interact with the homeless community, volunteer, raise our kids…..we are the incarnation of Christ.

But….remember this as we also judge, fly off the handle, curse, live like and compete with “the world”…… mercy!

We (Christ’s Body, ANC to South Austin) are the fragrance, the letter written on human hearts, known and read by everyone.

I think Paul is saying, the law (letter written on stone), brings judgment, death and a stench…..the Spirit (letter written on human hearts) brings life, a beautiful fragrance and freedom.

One of the things that struck me was that (like what Alex talked about the other morning) so many church goers, or people just checking out church feel judged and looked down at….. at a time when Jesus is being introduced to them. Strange how some (not all) believers love to live under the grace of the Spirit written on their hearts……but they like to impose the letter of law (traditions) written in Stone. So Christ becomes a stench to some because of these “believers”.