A Sewerside Mission? (time for a good cartoon)

Yes, it may be a terrible pun, but do your “missions” sometimes seem like sewerside?  I fully expect that each serious follower of Jesus will get involved in situations (family or otherwise) that make Asok’s mission to Elbonia look like a walk in the park!

The one connection I would make here is a verse found in 2 Corinthians 2:

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷ Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

I don’t know about you — but I’d rather go through life as a “pleasing aroma” of life and not as a stench of death!  But the believer is tasked with both!  We are aroma-spreaders.  Our primary audience is God (“For we are to God . . .”, v. 15).  We are spreading the aroma of Christ (v. 15).  Our field is both those who “are being saved” and “those who are perishing” (v. 15).  There are two human audiences for us:  To those who are being saved we are an aroma that brings life (v. 16).  To those who are perishing we are an aroma that brings death (v. 16).

We are not surprised that Paul concludes this analogy with the words “And who is equal to such a task?”  The simple answer is: “none of us!”  But followers of Jesus are to “spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”  And if some think our aroma stinks?  We continue to “speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God”!

Your thoughts?