FRAGRANCE FOR CHRIST
I was tired and sat down under the shadow of the great pines in a Swedish forest, glad to find such a cool retreat from the boiling sun. I had
not been there long before I noticed a fragrant smell and wondered what it could be and where it came from. No Mareschal Neil rose grew on that barren soil, nor could the sun penetrate the shades of the forest to extract its perfume even if it did. I looked round, and found by my side a tiny flower about half the size of a daisy, nearly hidden from view by the moss. It was the little Linnea flower. Oh, how fragrant it smelt; again and again I put it up to my nose, enjoying the smell. I looked up and thanked God for the tiny flower so insignificant, growing in a wild, almost untrodden, forest, yet bringing cheer and refreshment to me.
I thought, Why is it so obscure when it is a flower with such fragrance, and surely worthy of a place in the most stately grounds? I learned a lesson from it and it spoke powerfully to my heart. I thought, If I cannot be a pine in God’s forest, I may be a tiny flower to send forth the fragrance of Jesus in this world of sadness.
There is a tendency in our hearts to desire to be, or to do, something great. We are not content, like the little Linnea flower, to send forth fragrance in obscurity. I have often met the Lord’s people despondent over the apparent uselessness of their lives. They cannot point to some great feat accomplished for the Lord. It has never been theirs to preach to thousands, nor have they the remembrance of having done anything worthy of record.
It is written, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not”, Jeremiah 45: 5. Beloved fellow believer, let me tell you it is possible for you to be fragrant in this world. Keep close to Christ, walk in happy communion with Him, let your heart drink in His love, and you will be fragrant
to Him. Could you conceive anything greater than that? No eye may see you but His, no heart appreciate your act or thought but His, yet, how precious, I can be fragrant to the Lord Jesus.
Nothing, surely, is so delightful to Him as to have you and me walking with Himself. If this is so, we shall surely come in contact with some weary soul who needs refreshment. We can speak, and in such a way that there will be a Christ-likeness about us.
Dear fellow-believer, let us give up the disappointing business of self-occupation; let us be done with self, important self or worthless self. As long as we are occupied with self, we are not occupied with Christ. True greatness is the measure we have, by the Spirit, of His presence.
“Thy name is an ointment poured forth”. When He was down here He was not great as man counts greatness. His life was a life of obscurity. He chose no place of prominence. When by force they would make Him king, He retired; when His brethren pressed Him to go up to the feast to do some great miracle and make Himself prominent, He answered, “My time is not yet come”. To do His Father’s will was His commanding business. Oh, that “plant of renown” (Ezekiel 34: 29), that “root out of dry ground” (Isaiah 53: 2), who could say, “All my springs are in thee”, Psalm 87: 7. What fragrance came forth from Him! Those who were far from God could smell the holy perfume and say, “Never man spoke thus, as this man speaks”, John 7: 46. The heartless Pilate had to say, “I find no fault in him”, John 19: 6. The centurion at the cross had to confess that, “Certainly this was a righteous man”, Luke 23: 47
(A.V.). Others could but marvel at the gracious words that proceeded from His lips. None could come into His presence without smelling the
fragrant odours of love, compassion and tenderness. The wickedness of the human heart, which He met on every hand, only disclosed His preciousness more and more. Let us not, then, be despondent over what we are and what we are not. Let our attention be more than ever directed to Him, so that, as He fills the vision, everything else may vanish. As His sweetness fills the soul, so will His fragrance flow forth from us as the outcome of communion with Him.
May the Lord then so attract our hearts to Himself that, like the little Linnea flower, sending forth its odour in the untrodden forest, we may send forth, by His Spirit, something of His fragrance in this world where He is not.
(Author unknown)