A Pleasing Aroma

I want to tell you something the Lord has been doing in my heart over the last few weeks both through things going on at St. Andrew and things in my own quiet times. Simply put, I have been reminded of the importance of completely engulfing my day in devotion to the Lord. This started with our Holy Week services a few weeks back. Because it was so early in the morning, I was not able to do my quiet times first thing as I normally do. For that week, Holy Week service became my morning devotion and I moved my own personal time into the afternoons. The very next week, our young adults’ study through Exodus brought us to Exodus 29, where we see the consecration of the priests for the work in the Tabernacle. We saw that they offered two sacrifices a day; one in the morning and one at twilight. This was to be a symbol that their day began and ended in devotion to the Lord. We see that this was to be “a pleasing aroma” to the Lord (Ex. 29:41). This was to be a constant reminder that their entire lives were to be offerings to the Lord, that everything they did was to be pleasing to him. In the same way, Paul tells the church in Ephesus to “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 2:1-2). 
      My prayer these last two weeks has been for God to remind me all day long, not just in my morning quiet times, of this fragrance I am to be lifting to him. That everything I do, whether at church, home, hanging out around town, or anywhere else, is an offering to him. I wonder if you would join me in that prayer. May God make us people who live lives pleasing to the one who has redeemed us. 
Grace and Peace,
Thomas 
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