A Pleasing Aroma

He shall take out the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Leviticus 2:9

The Israelites are still out in the wilderness learning the laws and part of the laws are the different offerings they are to make to the LORD. Each one is to be without blemish, clean, practically perfect in every way. And as the people burn these on the altar, it will send a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

When Jesus came, he gave his life as a final offering for us, a sacrifice that became a sweet aroma, so we never had to be atoned for again. His offering was to be once….and for all, who believe. Jesus was sinless, fully human and fully God. He was nailed on the cross and died without any blemish. Jesus wasn’t practically perfect, he was perfect in every way to the very end.

We will never be perfect and we don’t ever have to make an offering for the Lord again, but God does call us to live a life like Jesus, making him an example for us to follow. In this way, instead of dying, he now calls us to be a living sacrifice, a pleasing aroma, of the offering of Christ.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

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. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 2:14-15

The closer we grow to Christ the more we will reflect him. It’s like a friend: when you first meet, you can be very different, but the more you hang out, the more you begin to take on their characteristics. Your actions and words and sometimes even your looks begin to reflect your friend. (Just saying, I’ve even see this in dog ownership too, kidding not kidding. Oh, Toodles.)

To know Jesus more, to grow closer to Him, to be a living sacrifice, it takes time and effort on our part. When we read God‘s word, when we reflect on what he is saying to our heart, when we pray, when we seek him every time we feel confused, lost or just needing someone to lean on, we are becoming more like Jesus. He is the vine and we are the branches. When we stay connected to Him, we will produce an abundance of fruit that is like a pleasing aroma to God and the world.

To be the living sacrifice, we take up our cross daily; we do the hard stuff with a smile, all the while pointing to Jesus. At this point, the fragrance of Christ exudes from our Words and Actions and Glorify’s God.

We can’t just believe in Jesus and not walk out our faith by reflecting Him. He will say he doesn’t know us because we haven’t been in a relationship, a friendship, with him. He was our final offering, a fragrant aroma to God for our sins, and now we have the opportunity to grow our relationship with Jesus and reflect His offering and exude His fragrance so that the world can know Him, too. This takes action, faith — a living sacrifice on our part, not just belief.