I can’t say I’ve been thrilled about the rise of soulless, franchised coffee “factories” over the years. I miss the big old java houses, full of personality, with overstuffed chairs and sofas. Dogeared paperback novels sit on shelves, along with tattered board games. And there’s plenty of room in the place (Earlier, the shop was probably a two-story home). Some nights a musician would strum a guitar. Regardless, you could always count on the smell of dark roast, mingled with sweet rolls, and an egg casserole that didn’t arrive there frozen.
Anyway, open the front door, and a cloud of that fabulous java scent would envelope you. I’ve actually met people who said they liked the aroma, even if they hated coffee, itself. This one guy shrugged and told me, “I know, it’s weird. I can’t stand to drink it, but I love to smell it.”
Stranger things: A lot of folks also like what emanates from God, without much liking God, Himself. “The good life,” righteousness, justice, love, are all enveloping scents we highly laud. But when divorced from God they easily become unrighteous, unjust, and hateful. Even Christians fall for this switcheroo. Turns out we love the smell of ministry, programs, and activities, but may not interact much with the One inspires all of it.
The Christian life begins by entering a redemptive relationship with Christ. That means a robust involvement with a Person, not merely some kind of cultural lifestyle.
Consider Psalm 89, which, like most of the Psalms, models a celebration of Person:
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?
The Psalm goes on, until
15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
16 who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.
There’s a lot of things in this psalm–faithfulness, righteousness, justice—that smell good. But separated from their source, God, they’re little more than a nebulous cloud.
The enduring challenge for all believers lies in coming back to Him, relating to Him, devotion to Him, loving Him, praising Him, and, well, not letting Him get lost in the stuff.
Paul said in Second Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Yes, it starts with an aroma. But it ends with a Person.
