Reflecting Him...Another Review

I wasn't going to do a review on week two, because after all, you need SOMETHING to find out on your own when YOU do this study, right?

But Carla uses an analogy that is SO perfect, I just have to.

"For we are to God the aroma of Christ." 2 Corinthians 2:15

Carla shares an experience where her son opens her kitchen pantry door and comes out running from a horrible stench. When she goes in the pantry, she almost gags the smell is so strong. She covers her face with her shirt, and gropes around in the area of the smell. What she finds is a bag of potatoes. She grabs them, runs out of the pantry, through the kitchen and out to the garbage.

ONE rotten potato ruined the whole bag, and not only that, stunk enough to stink up 2 rooms in her house. Once the source of the stench is removed, clean air can once again prevail.

On page 52 Carla says, "I realized an odor has the power to draw people to it or send them running...Notice...the kitchen pantry didn't produce [the] aroma. The processes taking place inside the pantry generated the smells. This could also be a picture of us as Christians. We are the pantry, and what is produced within us will either draw people to Jesus or turn them away."

This is POWERFUL stuff. Have you ever sat down in a group setting, church, a movie theatre, anywhere people sit in rows....and the woman who sits directly in front of you has enough perfume on for the entire crowd? SHE is not the source of the offense, it is her perfume.

What kind of "aroma" are YOU producing? Are you grumpy and cranky all the time, yet tell everyone you're a Christian? Or are you pleasant even to those who are not?

I'm not saying you have to paste a plastic smile on and say "Everything's fine" when it's not. That's more offensive to ME than an unpleasant odor. But we represent Christ to the masses, and if I see someone who I know is a Christian and they are miserable and mean, I'm going to wonder what kind of God they serve.

Just something to think about as you go through your day.
In other words, don't be a stinky potato!