The Fragrance Of Christ

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 8th of March, 2023 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 
1 Corinthians 1:18

Isn’t that beautiful? 

“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”  
2 Corinthians 2:15

The fragrance of Jesus to a dying world, that's what we have to be when everything is so negative, we must remain positive. Where this world is constantly bringing bad news, you and I need to bring the good news. We ask ourselves a question, is the glass of water half full or is it half empty? Well, that depends on how you look at it. Like never before in our lives, you and I have the opportunity of being a sweet-smelling fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ to a dying and hurting world. 

Don’t become like that miserable old farmer who is never happy. When the sun comes up in the morning, he says, “Here comes the drought,” and at midday when the clouds rise he says, “Here come the floods!” He is never happy. He is never satisfied. The preacher, Chuck Swindall, told a beautiful story, I will never forget it, about a positive farmer and a negative farmer. With the negative farmer, everything was wrong. So one day, the positive farmer said, “Let's go fishing so he took his neighbour and the two of them went and sat at the edge of a lake. The positive farmer brought his dog with him, and as they were fishing, he said to his dog, “Off you go!” The dog ran across the top of the water. The positive farmer said to the negative farmer, “What do you think about that?” He looked at the dog and said, “What’s wrong with your dog, doesn’t he know how to swim?”

I want to tell you about one of the most positive people I have ever met, Leigh Odendaal, she has gone to be with Jesus now. She was the fragrance of Christ even though she was in a wheelchair after a horse-riding accident. She was the most beautiful lady. She would come to church and I would make a beeline to go and see her and she was always, always so encouraging. “How are you Angus? You are preaching well, we love you.” She was totally selfless, a ray of sunshine, an example of the fragrance of Christ. I had the privilege of taking her funeral. It was probably one of the biggest funerals I have taken in my life. The people couldn’t fit into the church.

Today, let’s be a fragrance for Christ,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.