The Smell of Victory

2 Cor 2:14 "Now thanks [be] to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

Two cool things. First, God always leads us in triumph in Christ. I need to let that sink in for a little while. God ALWAYS causes us to be triumphant in Jesus. This faith that we have is not a downer. Rather, it is victory. Victory over all the junk that can bring us down. Victory over temptation, victory over sin, victory over habits, victory over attitudes, victory over guilt, victory over condemnation, victory over insecurity, victory over fear, victory over Satan, victory over self, victory over doubt, victory over expectations, victory over death. God always, always, always causes us to triumph. When I get stuck, when I get defeated I need to go back to this and claim it. God always causes us to triumph...in Christ. This is not something that I can do on my own. This is not drumming up enough will-power to overcome that habit, or sin, or doubt. This is totally on Jesus. He is the One who gained this victory for me. I need to rely upon Him, not myself. I need to trust Him, not my abilities. I need to say: "God, I can't do this but You can.", because it is Christ who has won.

When I was in High School my youth pastor gave me a book called "The Hungry Inherit". I don't remember much about the book, but I do remember this quote: "When I try I fail, but when I trust He succeeds." True. When I try to gain the victory in my own strength, I blow it every time. But when I turn it over to Christ and let go, He brings the success. He brings the victory. He allows me to triumph...ALWAYS.

Second cool thing (kind of)...we stink. Christians have an aroma. It isn't B-O. Rather, it is a sense (scents) that God is present, that His knowledge is where we are. This is something that we carry with us all the time because we are possessors of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting, but I need to remember that I take the Spirit of God with me wherever I go. The result of that is that people are either attracted or repelled. We either smell good or we smell bad. For those who are attracted to life, we smell great. But for those who would rather enjoy this world and the junk in it, we smell really bad. They don't want any part of us. They don't want to be around us
because we are a constant reminder that they are in the presence of a Holy God and they can't handle it. It is clear, we should not be afraid of offending people, because a smell offends naturally. It isn't that we try to do this, it isn't that we want to do this, it is just something that happens when the Spirit of God flows from our lives.

The real concern is: What if we don't smell any longer? What if we blend in? What if we have lost our savor?

God help me to smell like victory.