THE BRUISE GIVES THE AROMA

The Bible says that everywhere we spread the aroma of God. Since God is invisible, we become the hands and feet, the healers and teachers, the face and aroma of God. We are how the world can know what God is like.

Of course, to some, we are the fragrance of life. They are drawn to the scent and want to possess more of it. To others we are the stench of death. They are repulsed by the odor and want to get as far from it as possible. But really, our responsibility is not to choose our scent. That is the unmistakable smell of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it is not of our doing.

And does God spread his aroma from us to those who might notice? Simple. He bruises us. He breaks the neck of the Alabaster jar. That's right. He injures us. And from the injury pours out the aromatic scent of Holy Spirit in our lives.

If the perfume stays in the jar, it has trade value, and yet it is worthless as perfume. For perfume is intended to be spilled out, not to be safely contained. When we are broken and spilled out, we become a fragrant offering, extravagantly wasted and used up on Jesus. The offering fills the room, pours out on Jesus, and then it is gone.

If you want a plant to really give up its fragrance, do you know what to do? Bruise the plant. Rub it with your fingers and ruin the plant, and out will come the scents of the liquids in the leaves or the petals.

Maybe it seems like a waste to break a bottle or injure and plant just for the sake of a fragrance. But that's the nature of worship, isn't it? We give our best years, our best efforts, our full being, and we place it on an altar and give it up for One who is greater. That is the nature of a sacrifice, and its extravagant beauty is not missed on the object of the offering.

Pam has been broken, so that out of her God may send the fragrance of his presence to all who are in the room. From Mark emanates the fragrance of what the Holy Spirit has placed within him, and it rises as incense to the Chief Perfumer.