God's Sense of Smell

Spring is in the air! Earlier this week, Emily and I were walking our neighborhood, and I could smell all of the aromas of spring: freshly cut grass, someone having a barbecue in the backyard, flowers in bloom. It reminded me that God has a sense of smell, too. We often don't think about this, but Scripture points it out in several different places. For example...

"Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. And the LORD was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of the human race" (Genesis 8:20, 21).

"O LORD, I cry out to you, 'Come quickly.' Open your ears to me when I cry out to you.

Let my prayer be accepted as sweet-smelling incense in your presence. Let the lifting up of my hands in prayer be accepted as an evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141: 1,2).

"Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God" (Ephesians 5:2).

"Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God." (2 Corinthians 2: 15, 16).

A couple of points I would like to make. First, if you are a Christian, your life is a pleasing aroma to God...period. Why? Because, as Ephesians 5:2 states, Christ "offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." We are a pleasing aroma to God because Jesus is a pleasing aroma to God. 

Secondly, Jesus has done away with the old system of the priest sacrificing an animal at the altar. We are now God's holy priests! And, since we are His priests, we can make spiritual sacrifices (for example: prayer, praise, giving thanks, repentance) that rise up to Him and are a pleasing aroma to Him. "You are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God" (1 Peter 2:5).

So, when you are outside this spring and summer, and you catch those glorious, pleasing aromas of a barbecue, or flowers in bloom, or the fresh air after a rainstorm, just know that this is how God perceives your life in Christ. You are a pleasing, fragrant aroma to Him! And, in that moment, may it remind you to offer up a spiritual sacrifice of prayer, praise, or thanksgiving in your role as His holy priest. Your spiritual sacrifice will rise up to His throne, pleasing Him more than burgers on a grill during a warm Alabama day!