Category Archives: Aroma

Aroma, Bible, Gifts, Offering, Pleasing, Scripture, Sin

THAT SMELLS GOOD

PHILIPPIANS 4:18

“But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

My wife cooked up a couple of batches of brownies last week to take to a family gathering. Don’t you just love the smell of fresh baked brownies? It took all I could do not to dig into those as I cut them and placed them in the containers to take on the trip. Scooping up those warm brownies was tempting. I could just envision a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of one of those. Ahhh, the smells and the tastes!

Paul isn’t writing about baked goods, but he is using that imagery to describe how he received the gift from the Philippians. Not only was it given to him, but it was also “an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Their gift wasn’t just given to Paul. It was given to God. And Paul said it smelled good to Him. It was “a fragrant aroma.” The Greek actually reads “an odor of a sweet smell.” That’s pretty descriptive, isn’t it?

APPLICATION

In 2 Corinthians 2:15, Paul uses the same word to describe how we smell to God. “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:” We are not just a smell. We are sweet smell. God likes how we smell. The smell of sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ.

This Greek word eudoia is used one more time in the New Testament in Ephesians 5:2. Let’s back up to verse 1 to see the full context. “1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Here that word is describing Christ. Do we smell like Christ to God? Do our gifts to God smell like Christ? Hmmm!

This time of year, when I come in from mowing our lawn, my smell is not a sweet fragrance to my wife. On the contrary, she quickly points to the shower and holds her nose. Now, I don’t smell myself because the odor has gradually grown on me while I’ve been out working. But she can sure smell me. Don’t let the smell of sin creep up on you. Stay washed in the Word and in His Spirit. Be a sweet fragrance to your God.

O Lord, I want to always be a sweet odor in Your nostrils with no smell of sin on me.

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Aroma, Bible, Fragrant, Sacrifice, Scripture, Testimony, Witnessing

A GOOD COLOGNE

EPHESIANS 5:2

“and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Men don’t seem to wear cologne as much as they used to. My favorite growing up was Brut. My dad wore that, so I used to slip into his bathroom and splash some on. Man, I smelled good. I graduated to other fragrances over the years, some more expensive than others. But no amount of cologne could effectively cover up stink. It would always leak through and spoil the real fragrance of that cologne.

I love the imagery here that Paul uses. He tells us to “walk in love” but not in just any way. We are to walk “just as Christ also loved” us. He was a “fragrant aroma” in the nostrils of His Father. We will also give off that same aroma if we walk in love as He did. Our sacrificial living wafts up to heaven where the Lord looks down and smiles. Remember, a sacrifice was burned on the altar. Those blood sacrifices required a death. We also must die to ourselves to become that “fragrant aroma.”

APPLICATION

Since that Greek word for “fragrant” is only use two other times in the New Testament, let’s take a look at them. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 we find, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:” You see, our “fragrance” is noticed by others. Just as when I go outside for a second, my wife can smell it on me, I want others to smell it when I have been with Jesus. Amen?

The other time the word is used is in Philippians 4:18 where it says, “But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Even our gift giving, if given with the right motive, can be a fragrant aroma.

So, how are you smelling today? Are you giving off the fragrance of Christ around you? Do others smell Jesus on you? When we walk in a room His fragrance should be coming out of our pores in order to draw people to Him. Try freshening up today. Spend a little more time with Him to get fully immersed in His fragrance.

Lord, I want to smell like You. I want everything I do to give off a fragrant aroma of Christ.

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