God Is Unchanging----- Smell
His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. (Hosea 14:6 ESV)
Ancient Lebanon was known for two distinct smells. Most famously, the forests of Lebanon were sweet smelling cedars, the source of many perfumes and scents (for instance, Frankincense). And Lebanon was also renown for the grapes and wine that the vineyards produced.
Those distinct smells did not change from year to year, until the trees of Lebanon no longer were prominent, and weather patterns ruined the grape industry.
When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they looked forward to the smells of Lebanon (Deuteronomy 3:25), particularly while wandering in the mundane wilderness. Because the source of the fragrance was permanent, the smells were the same… from Israel’s settling of the Promised Land until it’s eventual destruction.
The fragrance was reliable in its lack of change.
In the same way, the fragrance that Christians present to the world (a metaphor, obviously!) is as unchanging as the Christ who is its source. The more ingrafted into God we are… the more we read His Word, pray to Him, and live for Him… the more the world can be astonished by Him.
And even when we falter, or age, or develop, or change, the unchanging Jesus will be evident. The source is the same. But when the source is ourselves, the fragrance will alter. Our witness will falter. Our Godly beauty will falter. Our saltiness will falter. Our light will falter. Our faith will falter.
Hold on to the Source… and because GOD is unchanging, our fragrance will not change.