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Christian love carries the “aroma of Christ”
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2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
Psalm 133 starts with a statement about unity, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” The remainder of the Psalm attempts to illustrate and support the pleasantness of unity. His first illustration is that of fragrant anointing oil. He says, unity is good like the oil that anointed Aaron’s head that would drizzle down his beard and onto his clothes. You may wonder, how is oil related to the goodness of unity?
First, it might help to understand the role oil played in the life of these Psalm singers. The anointing oil the Psalmist references would have been placed on the high priest to prepare him to make burnt sacrifices for the people’s sins. You see, forgiveness had a smell and it smelled like sweet oils. Perhaps like the scent of barbecue for me. I love grilling. It’s one of the things I love about summer. It’s not just the charcoal cooked food that makes me happy, it’s the experience. Cooking outdoors, talking with friends, and the smell of the fire. Every time I smell a grill it gives me nostalgic feelings of relaxation, good food, and friendship. Memories are strongly connected to smells and for me the grill holds lots of good memories.
The scent of anointing oil would have etched into the memories of God’s people as the smell of God’s forgiveness. They not only smelled forgiveness they would leave smelling forgiven.
The Psalmist tells us that unity among God’s people has a smell. It’s a sweet smell like the oils of holiness and forgiveness. That fragrance doesn’t only benefit those who have been saturated in the oils of unity; the benefit wafts through the air surrounding people who belong to healthy and unified communities. Christian unity has an attractive scent. Scripture teaches us that one of the most attractive things about Christianity is the love we have for each other (Ephesians 4, John 17, 2 Corinthians 2:14-15). Perhaps you’ve observed someone who is a part of a tight knit team, staff, life group, or church and noticed how the group genuinely cared for each other and accomplished great things together. This is attractive and almost everyone wants to be a part of a group like that. It’s because Christian love carries the “aroma of Christ.”. Today, read 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 and take a few moments to make a list of people who you notice carrying the, “aroma of Christ.”[/vc_column_text][us_separator height=”25px” size=”custom”][vc_column_text]
By Aaron Bjorklund
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