The Fragrance of Christ

And the Lord spake unto Noah, and he blessed him. And Noah smelled a sweet savor, and he said in his heart; I will call on the name of the Lord, that he will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; and he will not again smite any more every thing living, as he hath done, while the earth remaineth; JST Gen. 9:4-6

The fragrance of Christ must fill our being and overpower the stench of evil. G. Campbell Morgan related that he often went into the home of a man who entertained him, and in one room he always detected a strong fragrance of roses. He said to his host one day, “I wish you would tell me why, whenever I come into this room, I smell the fragrance of roses.”

The gentleman smiled and replied, “Ten years ago I was in the Holy Land, and while there I bought a small tube of attar of roses. It was wrapped in cotton wool, and as I was standing here unpacking it, suddenly I broke the bottle. I put the broken container, cotton wool and all, into the vase on the mantel.”

He then walked to the beautiful vase and lifted the lid, and the fragrance of roses filled the room. The fragrance had permeated the clay of the vase, and it was impossible for someone to enter the room without being conscious of it.

The goal of every Christian should be for the Rose of Sharon to so fill the clay vessel of the human house that His fragrance would linger on and on and ever influence the surroundings.

(Haney, Joy., May I Wash Your Feet?, Word Aflame Press, Hazelwood, MO, 1991, pg 22)