Do People “Smell” Jesus When They Are Near You During Christmas ? (Part 1)

During the Christmas season many stores, as well as individuals, burn candles that have amazing fragrances. These fragrances warm the heart of the people experiencing them and actually provide an “Attitude Adjustment” that’s healthy for body, soul and spirit. It’s a scientific fact that smells can change people’s mode and disposition without the person actually realizing it.  The question is do we take advantage of this fact and use the affect of fragrances during our interaction with people during the holiday season?

I have always been a coffee drinker. I look forward to getting a cup of coffee the first thing in morning, and when I’m interrupted in getting it I can become a “Grumpy Bear”.  If I don’t watch my attitude I can make others wish they hadn’t seen me. Christmas for me is like smelling that first cup of coffee. The closer I get to December 25th the more I can taste the wonder of this time of year. It is a time when the Holy Spirit of God moves in the affairs of man in this country to soften the human heart to such a degree that people treat each other with more kindness and there is a sense of hope in the air.

I once lived in Gothenburg, Sweden for a time and there was a coffee processing plant right near the shipyards where I was living. Every day my wife and I would walk or drive near this coffee processing plant and from a mile away you could smell the aroma of great coffee.  When you got within a block of the plant you could almost taste it. As I think about Christians and the Christmas season I wonder how many believers will “smell” like Jesus? Let me explain.

Let’s be honest here.  All of us can get caught up in filling our holiday schedules with countless things like visiting relatives, going to office parties or taking kids to drama rehearsal.  We can actually become less pleasant to be around because we are just too stressed out. Instead of taking advantage of the Christmas season to give Christmas cheer we end up wishing for Christmas to be over so we can get back to a normal routine. Why is it we let the business of the season dictate our schedule and attitude?

One reason is Satan hates the Christmas season. Now, I know some of you are saying “Really?”, Satan is involved in messing up Christmas? Well, just think about it. If you hated God and was his sworn enemy and God was involved in throwing a party to celebrate his Son’s birthday wouldn’t you try to ruin the party? So often we stereotype Satan’s activities in life and blow things out of proportion that we all laugh it off as not legitimate. We end up missing the real times Satan is involved in world affairs or in our lives. Satan likes nothing better than to fool us into believing he doesn’t exist or that he is only involved in world wars and famines. The apostle Paul stated why things often go awry in our lives and how to deal with these hinderances.

Ephesians 6:12 

Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.

Every time there is something good happening with us or around us Satan is looking for an advantage to short circuit our appreciation and gratitude towards God and others so that the good event or thing has a short shelf life and doesn’t change us for good, but only has a momentary effect on our lives and the lives of others.

Now, some people are born with a more cheery personality than others but Satan, according to the scripture, is always behind minimizing God’s influence on both us and the people we meet. Paul makes this declaration about spiritual warfare not to make us nervous or crazy but to help us sort out who and what is behind difficult events in our lives.

Matthew 2:1-3

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. [2] They asked, “Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, as were all the people in Jerusalem.
[7] Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men and learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. [8] He sent the wise men to Bethlehem, saying, “Look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me so I can worship him too.”

The shepherds, according to scripture, were afraid when angels appeared to tell them the good news. The word in the greek was that they were “Violently Afraid” and we know that Paul told Timothy, his spiritual son, that God does not give us a spirit of fear.

Let me get back to my original point of how fragrance affects us. I believe that God is attempting to draw humanity to himself and his redemptive plan while Satan is attempting to hinder that plan. Believers in the risen Christ, Christians who define themselves as Christ followers, are in the world to do the same thing Jesus, God’s Son, was sent to do, which is to draw people to experience the love of God and be set free from sin and death.  However, if the followers of Jesus get overly occupied with lesser things like business and anxiety, instead of influencing people for Jesus, then the work that God has done moving humanity toward Christ is hindered and Satan has won.

2 Corinthians 2:15    

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

Questions:

1) What kind of “Fragrance” are you giving off……God’s love or just self interest? It’s a personal choice.

2) Have you considered that you could attract people to Jesus simply by your attitude towards them? Ask God to fill you with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

May God do wonders through our lives, both believer & non-believer.

Pastor Dale