On this our penultimate of the fast preparing us to be the Bride of Christ, let’s look again at Eph 5: – “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph 5:2). It was love for us that led Him to leave Heaven and be born as man; love for us that kept Him focused unwaveringly on His goal to save us, no matter the cost; and love that led Him to make the ultimate sacrifice of laying down His life to death, so that we might live. Why does God like the aroma that ascends from a burnt sacrifice so much? Because whole-hearted sacrifice is the most complete expression of love. Only love truly motivates us to give ourselves fully as Christ did for us. It is love that gives the most pleasing aroma to God, because it is love that expresses His nature most fully. So it will be the aroma of God’s great love that rubs off on us as we submit to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, bringing us into deeper intimacy in the knowledge of Him, and causing us to smell of Christ’s love in return (Eph 2:4-5; 2 Cor 3:18; John 16:13-15)
2 Cor 2:14-16 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which ascends] to God, [discernible both] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the latter one an aroma from death to death [a fatal, offensive odour], but to the other an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh].
(NB It’s important to note that among those who are perishing, the aroma of Christ that we carry is not always an appealing one. We do not change – we who are in Christ and belong to Him always smell of Him, but that does not mean that everyone likes that smell. It is not our job to add anything of the flesh to try to make ourselves more appealing to the world. Only God can persuade them otherwise. Our job is just to keep spreading the aroma of Christ, and the only way we do that is to keep dying to self, as He did, and to wholeheartedly allow the Holy Spirit to produce the oil of His fragrant fruit within us.)
Love causes us to give of ourselves. In John 12:3 Mary anointed the feet of her beloved Lord with expensive perfume, wiping it away with her hair – and we are told that the aroma filled the whole house. In Phil 4:18 Paul remarks that the gifts sent to Him via Epaphroditus were “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God”. Self-sacrifice is the most complete expression of love – the most full expression of Christ, and it is that which marks us as His sweet-smelling disciples.
John 13:34-35 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
How did Jesus love us? He laid down His life for us. So are we called to love: self-sacrificially. As we prepare ourselves to be a suitable Bride for our royal Bridegroom today, let us apply the perfume of sacrificial love – laying down all of our rights, our opinions, our preferences, our needs, our dreams, our lives – all for the sake of spreading the love of Jesus and becoming a fit Bride for Him. May we consciously apply the perfume of 1 Corinthians 13 while submitting to the Holy Spirit producing its fruit within us too…
“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealouswhen blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honour. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Love never stops loving” (1 Cor 13:4-8) We started this journey with a word several weeks ago about how it is God’s great love that enables us to love Him (1 Jn 4:19). As we prepare to end our fast tomorrow, let us do so knowing that while our faith in the God Who has never left us and our hope in the coming Bridegroom are absolutely vital for life right now, the only truly enduring, eternal perfume is love. As God says in 1 Cor 13:13 – “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”.
In the Secret Place 
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