Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of an original song by anonymous artist … Sweet Smelling Savor … poignantly singing how our lives become a sweet aroma for God when He senses our Christlike surrender and sacrifice.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2Corinthians 2:15a [NLT] … 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.
… Jesus’ sacrifice was the sweetest aroma to God, the Father; but our living sacrifice (see Romas 12:1) reflects the same sweetness to our God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
… Our living sacrifice of surrender/obedience to Christ and thereby our Christlikeness is a sweet aroma to our Abba Father.
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Reference Passage : … Leviticus 3:1-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God prescribed how sacrifices were to be made for atonement and peace; and when they were obediently followed, they became a sweet aroma to God.
Reference Passage : …Romans 12:1-2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Our lives surrendered as living sacrifices, avoiding worldliness and selfishness, become a sweet aroma to God.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Peterson, uses a story of how our lives of living sacrifice become a sweet and Christlike aroma to God. The ODB author writes … Hot and dusty, Bob dismounted from the bus he had ridden to a city far from home. He was tired from a long day of travel and grateful that he would be able to have dinner with friends of friends who lived in the area. They welcomed him in, and he immediately felt a sense of peace. He felt at home, comfortable, safe, and valued.
Later, wondering why he had felt such peace in an unfamiliar place, Bob found an answer in 2 Corinthians. The apostle Paul describes people who follow God as having the “pleasing aroma of Christ.” “That’s exactly it!” Bob said to himself. His hosts had “smelled like” Christ.
I think all reading here have heard the phrase, “Stop and smell the roses,” haven’t we? Obviously it reflects the wisdom to let our lives slow down enough to enjoy what God has done for us; and it’s stopping long enough to smell the fragrance from roses like those in the photo.
And do we realize that sacrifices, which were prescribed by God in the OT [see Lev. 3:1-5], were a “sweet aroma” to God as offered to Him, as God described often for His people in the Old Testament. But only once in the NT was the reference made to sacrifice being “a sweet aroma” to God; and that is in the highlight passage, linked above. And this sweet aroma, offered up to God, is made when we, as living sacrifices to our Lord (see Romans 12:1-2), are offered up in the Christlike way we live our lives.
And when we do live in surrender to the Lord, it reflects the perfect sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross, which was the sweetest of all aromas to God, the Father, ever. And when we live sacrificial lives of Christlikeness, we become a sweet aroma to God as sung in the original song, linked above.
So, let’s all live today to become a sweet - Christlike - aroma to our Lord.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for allowing us to waft sweetly in Your nostrils as we live sacrificially for You.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here become a sweet aroma for You as we live Christlike lives. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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