The Bible says our lives are intended to have an aroma.

We can live in such a way that people want what we’ve got. Our lives can make people ask questions because there is something distinctive about us. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”
2 Corinthians 2:14–15

Our everyday mission is this: we are the aroma of Christ.

Paul was drawing from an image his original audience would have immediately understood. A Roman triumphal procession was a lavish parade celebrating a great military victory. There were soldiers, horses, the spoils of war, flowers and incense. The aroma itself announced that a victory had taken place.

Paul takes that familiar image and points us toward an even greater victory.

With Jesus, we share in this incredible victory. He conquered death. Because of that, we have total forgiveness, new purpose and an unshakable hope. We get to know Jesus, the One who writes the final chapter. He puts his Spirit in us, shapes us and gives us the life of Jesus.

And when you’ve been with Jesus, people should be able to tell.

There’s an aroma.

God uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

A Life That Smells Like Jesus

Paul doesn’t simply say that followers of Jesus have an aroma. He says we are to God “the pleasing aroma of Christ.”

It is something that draws other people in—an aroma that makes people think of the love and character of Jesus.

Galatians 5:22–23 gives us a picture of what that looks like. Jesus put a high value on everyone he met. There was joy in him. There was peace because he was confident that, in the end, everything would work out according to the Father’s will. He was patient with his followers. He was kind to people on the fringes of society, seeing them and giving them attention. He was genuinely good to others.

If the Spirit of Jesus is alive in us, that is increasingly how other people should encounter us.

We’ll become more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more kind, more patient and more gentle.

That gives us an important question to ask ourselves: Does my life cause people to ask questions?

In the workplace, are we known for our integrity? With people who are different from us, do they feel deeply valued and treated with respect? Parents, do we look like Jesus in how we respond to our kids? Young people, do you look like Jesus in how you treat your parents?

When people are around us—when they watch the way we live—is there something distinctive about us? Something positive? Something that reminds them of Jesus?

If it doesn’t look like Christ, it’s not Christian.

We have all seen the opposite. Someone can claim the name of Jesus while treating people in a way that actually pushes them away from him. That isn’t a pleasing aroma. It becomes more like a stench.

The stakes are high because the people around us matter deeply to God.

“To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.”
2 Corinthians 2:16

So here is a simple way to take inventory:

Is the aroma of my life attracting the people around me toward Jesus, or is it pushing them away?

Shaped by the Spirit

The good news is that we don’t have to manufacture the aroma of Jesus ourselves.

Our everyday power is this: we are shaped by the Spirit.

When we put our trust in Jesus, his Spirit comes to live within us and begins changing us. Paul writes:

“The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
2 Corinthians 3:18

More and more like him.

We spend time in Scripture, discovering his will for how we live. We talk with him in prayer. We get to know him. We spend time with others who are seeking to honor him. We keep saying “yes” to Jesus, asking for his help and strength.

The honest truth is that we cannot be the aroma of Christ on our own. We need him to fill us.

And as he does, something begins to happen. People notice.

They see peace in someone who has every reason to be anxious. They experience kindness when they expected anger. They see integrity when cutting corners would have been easier. They encounter hope in someone walking through something incredibly difficult.

And sometimes that causes them to wonder about the source.

There are people around us whose hearts God is preparing. The aroma of our lives can prepare the way and make a huge difference.

That is our identity as followers of Jesus.

Our everyday mission is this: we are the aroma of Christ.

And where does that happen?

Everywhere.

In our neighborhoods. In our workplaces. In our schools. In our homes. At the doctor’s office. At the auto repair shop. In another country. In an ordinary conversation with the person standing right in front of us.

What if Jesus so filled us that we spread his aroma wherever we went?

Through gracious words. Through acts of kindness. By consistent integrity. Through confident hope, even in hard times.

What if people encountered something in us that caused them to seek its source?

Wherever we go, we can invite the Spirit of Jesus to fill us in such a way that the aroma of Christ grows stronger, better and more pleasing within us.

Message recap adapted from the September 27, 2026, message by Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer

Message Notes