I happen to live in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Las Vegas we have a lot of wonderful and big hotels. If you ever happen to be in one of our fine hotels and need to use the restroom, you will have no problem finding one to use. One day as I was in one of our fine hotels, I had the need of a restroom and as I walked into the restroom I happen to notice a machine on the wall that for a certain amount of money, you could pick from a selection of cologne in the machine and it would spray a ‘mist’ of the particular fragrance you selected on you (we’ve surely come a long way from the restrooms I used to use).

I’ve been doing a series of messages at our church that has focused on being able to recognize all the many good changes, since we made Jesus Christ the Lord of our life. I always try to use many Scriptures to hopefully validate whatever point I am trying to make and last week when I used a certain verse, later on in the day the Holy Spirit began to speak a truth into my heart that went way beyond the point I was trying to make that morning. James 4:13-14 “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow I will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

As I rested that Sunday afternoon, the Holy Spirit gently drew my attention to where it says in James 4:14 ‘What is your life? You are a ‘mist’ that appears for a little while and then vanishes.“ I am 66 years old, (yes I know that is very old for many of you) and I realize that I am now at the tail end of my life. My father lived to be 90 and my mother lived to be around 85. (for some reason no one in our family knows for sure how old my mother really was) At best, if I am fortunate enough to live as long as my father did, I have about 24 years left to live. The last 66 years of my life flew by so quickly, that 24 years doesn’t sound like a very long time.

You might say I am a bit addicted to wearing cologne. If it were possible, or better yet if it were affordable, I would have a different bottle of cologne to wear for everyday of the week. I pretty much wear cologne every moment of the day. I hate to smell bad or want people to think or say I smell bad, (I know, you are thinking I need serious counseling) The Holy Spirit began to challenge my heart as to what mist or better yet, what ‘aroma of character’ am I leaving in the air for others to smell once I leave a room. Cologne, whether it comes out of a machine in a restroom or out of a fancy bottle in our home, will eventually fade away and you will have need to put on more. The mist or ‘aroma of our character’ lingers on for a long time; longer than we may want it to linger.

Our bodies naturally give off an odor that is easy to pick out to those who are close to us. How many times have you walked into say your parents, grandparents or a close friend’s home and noticed how you quickly you were able to pick up their smell. When my mom died and my brothers and sister went to our parents home to be with our dad. I distinctly remembered how easily I was able to pick up the wonderful aroma of my mom as I walked into our parents home that sad night. A few years later my father passed away and I remembered how hard it was for us kids to go into our parents home to empty it out so we could sell it, because the aroma or character of our parents was all over their home; in every possible place.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the ‘fragrance of life’.” I’ve unfortunately had the sad occasion to get a whiff of the smell of death and let me say it wasn’t a pleasant smell and it lingered in my nostrils for a long time. I have yet to find a bottle of cologne labeled the ‘fragrance of life’ on the shelf of any store, for most people would surely buy it.

James says we are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Though our mist may vanish after a little while, the fragrance of our life can and does affects many even after we are long gone; yet it is up to you and me to make sure the effect of our mist or fragrance that we are leaving behind is life changing.

The question before us is; do we leave a fragrance of life when we leave a room for others to desire or would they say we leave a stench? If at best I only have 24 years left to live, or maybe even less. I want to be sure the mist; the fragrance of my life I leave behind touches people for the Lord in so many positive ways. Let me say my friend the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I’ve got some serious work to do to make sure that takes place, but it is a work I will commit to do. Will you please join me my brother, my sister so the world may say the ‘fragrance of the Lord‘ truly lives in His people!!!