The Aroma of Christ to the World!

      God is stirring my heart for the world. Being here and knowing that everyday I have an opportunity and an obligation to share hope and Jesus with people who do not know Him is an opportunity not to be wasted. Even since being here, I’ve had to adjust my box of how I normally think of knowing God. It was always such a personal thing to me before. It is now becoming much more communal. It is wonderful spending time alone with the Lord, but what good does it do if you never learn how to know God in the real world or how to show others the transformation that happens through knowing Him. Sharing Him is another part of knowing Him. I have known the power of community before, but I really want to experience God in community, and in every part of my life I want to be seeking to know Him.

Already, I have had an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy in reaching people with the gospel. I think God wants to teach me a lot about the power of the Holy Spirit this year. So many people here have no clue that they can really know God! At first it was very discouraging, and so many times I’m thinking, how can I make a difference here? Sometimes while sharing, I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall. But God is faithful and He is at work! I am confident He wants Slovenia to know Him because of what He says in His Word and I will have hope in that!

     

“II Corinthians 2:14-17 says, ¹⁴ But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.¹⁵ Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?

¹⁷ You see, we are not like the many frauds who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.”

            I want to be merely the fragrance of Christ, and people will respond to that according to what God wills. I pray that for those I meet  in Slovenia, it will be a fragrance of life and not death! And I am not adequate, but I ask God to give me boldness to speak with sincerity, and only by the authority of Christ! In Luke 9 Jesus says that He gives all power and authority to heal and cast out demons! Do I really believe that? Do I really believe that He is life-giving and am I prepared to deal with the response of those who reject me in rejecting Him? I pray that I would keep my fixed on knowing Christ and in turn only being concerned about His fame and glory. By knowing Him may I be filled with His love and compassion! May I be like Paul who was able to patiently and gently reason and persuade people to believe the truth of Jesus and His resurrection. No matter the opposition I will face, may I find disciples to build into who will embrace Jesus Christ!

^{Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God! For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:20-21}