Have you purchased any cologne or perfume lately? If you haven’t, you better prepare yourself before you go on your next shopping spree for your favorite body fragrance. Depending on your choice, you could spend around $60.00 for just a few ounces. Though it may be expensive, most of us would agree that spending a little extra for the “good stuff” is better than the alternative. There’s not much more appalling then no cologne, except maybe some cheap cologne that comes from a convenience store bathroom. When it comes to body fragrance, you either attract or appall others by your choice and the amount you use.
Did you know that your Christian witness is like a cologne or perfume to God? It really is. Notice this verse, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2: 15 NKJV).
When studying the books of First and Second Corinthians, the Apostle Paul writing to a young church who loves the Lord Jesus, but in many ways, their lifestyle is not measuring up. Paul is encouraging them to take an honest examination of their life and not allow anything to hinder their testimony of God’s Saving Grace.
A Christian’s testimony becomes evident in two ways.
First, there is the public profession of faith and baptism. What a beautiful picture is painted in the hearts of men and women in the Church when they watch a person who has confessed faith in Christ be immersed in baptismal waters. To everyone watching, that person is proclaiming that their “old” self has been crucified with Christ and now they have been made “new” by the grace of Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).
Second, there is the daily walk of the believer. As a child growing up in church I remember the frequent testimony of Ms. Mossie Long in our small church. With her walking cane waving in the air she would announce to all listening, “you may be the only Bible some people ever read!” How true her words are. James, the half-brother of our Lord, never denied that we were saved by grace through faith, but he did admonish Christians to remember that it is through our “works,” our lifestyle, that the world will believe our confession of faith. “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18)
So, how valuable is your Christian testimony? It will either be like an expensive cologne purchased at a fine department store, or it will be like cheap bathroom cologne out of a quarters only machine. The decision is up to you.
In his letters to the Corinthians Paul said,
1. Remember who you are!
You are “called to be saints”:
1 Corinthians 1:2
You are His “Temple”:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
2. Don’t let your lifestyle hinder your testimony.
“Be Holy”:
2 Corinthians 6:16-18,
2 Corinthians 5:9-10,
“Be sensitive to the conscience of others:”
1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
"Let Christian love be your guide."
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Keep watch on your faith.style="font-weight:bold;">span>
2 Corinthians 13: 5-6
1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. “
