"A Very Special Aroma!"

 "Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:" (S.O.S. 4:14)

  Remember that smell of your favorite cookies cooking, how it just overpowered your senses as you walked into the house? Well, that's not this! This is not something that is here today and then does not show up again tomorrow; this is something permanent and everlasting! There are two different meanings to the word, aroma; one is the affect of something that smells, the other is the affect of some thing or action which is just overwhelming and hard to describe. The smell of success, the aroma of officaldom; the sweet sweet fragrance of victory! 

  Before I became a Christian, life was mostly about what I could accomplish and paying the price for the wrongs I might have done. They say, "You can't have grace without the law," which in comparison, you cannot accomplish victory without death of something; something must be overcome, defeated, or made to be removed, if there is any point to victory: it is simply impossible for there to be victory out of nothing! Regardless of the fight, whether it is physical or spiritual, there is no victory without completion, once and for all. Some may choose to disagree, like a military leader, or anyone that lives for war. Hurt them just enough to bring them into submission, letting them return again, to fight another day. 

  This type of victory is permanent and unchanging! Matthew Henry puts it in and list of aromas, to give a specific type and action to each: 1) They are planted, and do not grow of themselves; 2) They are precious and of high value; 3) They pleasant, and of a sweet smell to God and man; 4) They profitable and of great use; 5) They are permanent! 

  If there is one thing that we must try to understand, a new creation means that the old has been removed! I know it is hard, it seems impossible to make sense of, and it never seems to be kept under control; but if there is one thing we need to come to terms with, it is that Jesus Christ won! We are not able to win this fight; if we were, He would not have has to do it for us! We get to be victorious in Christ, and in Christ alone; that is the very special aroma, that is won and done! Victory is ours in Him; Can't you smell that smell...

"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23) NLT