I was in row 18 on my way from Denver International to LAX in Los Angeles. The airplane was a Boeing 777… which is a large wide body plane. It has three passenger cabins: first class, business class, and coach. Row 18 was the first row of coach.
Roughly 30 minutes into the flight, the beverage carts appeared at the front of coach class. The beverage options were presented without a snack of any kind. That meant coffee, cream and a United Airlines napkin.
Within a few minutes I noticed that the business class section was being served as well… however, it was glassware that got used, and it was food that got served. Moments later the aroma of warm breakfast entrees wafted through the airplane. Although served to only a few, the fragrance enticed the entire aircraft.
I was one row away from converting the aroma into a meal. I was so close.
No one offered me their meal. No flight attendant said, "Sir, because you are so close, and because you look so hungry, I’ll serve you a meal as well."
No, I had paid for a coach seat… and the service commensurate with coach class was all that I was going to get.
For some reason the imagery seemed especially powerful and poignant.
"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing," ~ 2 Corinthians 2:15
Our lives, lived to the full, should be an authentic reflection of what the Father has to serve. We should smell like Jesus. And in doing so, we produce a beautiful fragrance to those in our "cabin" ("those who are being saved") AND to those who are still sitting in coach! Authentic, revealing, captivating, and attractive.
How beautiful to be able to declare to those that are drawn to the aroma that Christ has purchased a ticket, the ticket, your ticket that not only includes a seat in the front of the plane, but a portion of the feast as well.
A fragrance first, an invitation to the table, then a companion at the meal.
For the hungry… real food. Drawn by the fragrance, purchased by the King.
An open invitation for those in row 18… and even further back.
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