Shalom and welcome to the Living Supernaturally, where we learn about God’s word and mediate on His word. This week, we have been looking at God’s word and His truth for the youth. Jeremy has been sharing his thoughts and his concerns, and Jeremy and I have been talking about God’s word and how it can apply to different areas of a youth’s life.

Jeremy: So today, I want to bring up that, when we speak of Christ to other people, it generally doesn’t have the same reaction in everyone. Some people may be willing to listen, but other people actually get offended by it, some get angry or even upset when we share our faith, and I don’t know what our stand should be in situations like this?

Jean: that’s an excellent thought, Jeremy. I want to bring before you a scripture before we look into that in detail. I want to read from 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verses 14-15, it reads, ‘But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.’ The Bible calls us to spread the good news like a sweet perfume. He refers to us as the aroma of Christ or as the fragrance of Christ. So, like you said, as you go around in this world, speaking of Christ, it may not really invoke the same reactions that you would expect, but we are called yet to be the aroma of Christ. We understand that the knowledge of the gospel is life giving and it comes in as the word of peace and hope. For some people, like you said, it can be offensive, it may not attract the same as you would expect but we are called to be that aroma. For example, lets say you are walking in a garden and you would like to smell some flowers, these flowers are intended to give a sweet aroma and it draws us to that but there are some people who maybe allergic to it or have reactions to it or do not like it but that doesn’t mean we can back off from enjoying being in the presence/ smell of that flower. Similarly, we can’t back off from being the aroma of Christ just because there maybe people who are offended by the gospel because we understand that even the greatest characteristic that God would like in us, is to be that aroma and fragrance of God because it is this aroma that really impacts the life of others, of those you maybe interacting with, it impacts every person that you meet. So, when this aroma is emanating from our lives, remember that God is that source, God is the one who will bring about that change in people. So, I challenge and encourage you to be that aroma and as believers let us all come to that place of bring that aroma and not hide it but allow and emanate that beauty, freshness, the life-giving spirit, and power of the gospel to flow through us even as we minister to others. No matter if it is being rejected, let us remember that God is the one who will ensure that the fruit has been born.

Let’s pray together, Heavenly Father, we thank you, that you have called us to be your fragrance, you have called us to be the aroma of Christ, so that wherever we go, that we can show others of who you are to us and also emanate the beauty and the goodness of your love and your salvation. We pray that you will give each one of us the courage and specially the youth who are watching today, you will give them the courage to be the aroma who spreads your beautiful fragrance, in Jesus’s precious name we pray, Amen.

Thank you for tuning in to living supernaturally, for more resources to strengthen your spiritual strengthen your spiritual walk, please visit apcwo.org.

Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week's theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week's devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.