[Steve Myers] There's something about certain smells. This time we're in the fall of the year and there's something about those leaves that are coming down, and the smells of fallen leaves that remind me of my childhood. In fact, I often think of coming into the house and my mom is baking chocolate chip cookies. Awesome. They're my favorite, even today. And those fragrances certainly remind you of certain things. Do you have that experience? They say if you bake bread or make cookies when you're selling your house, that people will walk in and they'll enjoy that smell and have a better impression of your home and you might sell it a little easier.

Well, fragrances are powerful and there's a passage in the book of 2 Corinthians that reminds us about that very fact. It's in 2 Corinthians 2, starting in verse 14. And it says this, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. And through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

And you see, this is a reference not only to aromas and smells but also pointing back to the Roman practice of having parades. When the Romans would conquer a foe, they would often have victory parades that they'd march through the streets of Rome. And during those victory marches, they would parade the captives, they would parade the things that they captured, the wealth that they took from another people. And there would also be priests that would walk and they would have sensors filled with smoke that would be a fragrance of a sweet-smelling aroma that would just permeate the streets of Rome. And so here, Paul, the apostle Paul is making a reference to that. These Roman triumphal marches have a connection to you and me. We're supposed to be that diffused fragrance of the knowledge of God. In fact, he goes on and says, "We are to God, the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

And so like the chocolate chip cookies, like the sweet-smelling savor of these sensors in the Roman parades, that's supposed to be us. We're supposed to be that wonderful aroma, like almost the sweet savor is a reminder of the aroma that would have been in the tabernacle or in the temple where sacrifices were made. It should point us to the sacrifice of Christ. And when we think of that, our illustrations, how we live our life, our actions should be that sweet-smelling aroma that permeates everyone we come in touch with so that we are that fragrance, we are that aroma. We are living, breathing examples of what it means to be a Christian. And so that's part of our duty. Let's take this duty seriously and be sure that our life is a representation of that victory ceremonial parade that wherever we go, we are that sweet-smelling savor of Jesus Christ, our savior.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.