Four Aromas that Please God

Four Aromas that Please God posted by a missionary

The Aroma of My Prayers
The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:4)

In the Old Testament, God commanded the priests of Israel to continually burn aromatic incense — made from a blend of five exotic spices — on the golden altar inside the Holy of Holies. But, like my friends’ perfume, it wasn’t simply the fragrance itself that pleased God, but what it represented: the constant prayers of his people.

Just as God prescribed a specific recipe for the incense, he also prescribes specific prayers for believers today — prayers of:
• Thanksgiving (1 Timothy 2:1)
• Forgiveness (1 John 1:9)
• Intercession (1 Timothy 2:1)
• Praise and adoration (Psalm 148:1–14)
• Utter dependence (Matthew 7:7)
• Seeking wisdom (James 1:5)
• Petitions and supplications (1 Timothy 2:1; Philippians 4:6)
• Seeking peace (Philippians 4:6–7)
• Salvation (Romans 10:9–10)

These particular prayers, in fact, are so pleasant and precious to God that he lovingly collects them in golden bowls in heaven (Revelation 5:8). By keeping them close, he can continually enjoy their aroma.

The Aroma of my Repentance
They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. (Leviticus 4:31)
In addition to burning incense, Israel was also required to sacrifice certain types of animals to atone for their sins. But, again, it wasn’t the aroma from the sacrifices that pleased God as much as what it represented: repentance, clean souls, changed lives (Leviticus 1:9, 13; 2:2; 23:18). If performed properly, these sacrifices were “a pleasing aroma to the Lord” (Numbers 15:3).

Martin Luther famously wrote in the first of his ninety-five theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.” Repentance is not peripheral to a life of worship. It’s at the very heart, which is why God sees repentance as especially fragrant.

The Aroma of My Witness
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. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

In 2 Corinthians 2:14–16, the apostle Paul charges us to spread “the fragrance of the knowledge of [Jesus Christ] everywhere.”
The knowledge that we proclaim is that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of mankind, and all who repent and appropriate his sacrificial death on the cross through faith will be saved by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8–9). We are witnesses of the knowledge that Jesus died to bring us to God forever, for our greatest joy (1 Peter 3:18).

But, unfortunately, not everyone likes the scent of this truth, even when it’s spoken “with gentleness and respect,” as it always ought to be (1 Peter 3:15). While our witness always spreads the fragrance of Christ, it’s not always received the same by its hearers. To those who are being saved, it is the lovely perfume of life everlasting; but to those who are perishing, it’s the sour stench of death eternal.

Regardless of recipients’ reactions, however, our testimonies produce a powerful fragrance which God delights in, for truth always smells good to God. Nothing pleases him more than to see his Son glorified in the courageous testimonies of those he came to save. And if the Lord is pleased with us, “what can man do?” (Hebrews 13:6).

The Aroma of My Love
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35)

As Christ-followers, we are called to demonstrate Christ’s love through loving others. As I show love to my teammates, I am demonstrating Christ’s love. As I show love for my husband and daughter, I am demonstrating Christ’s love. As I show love for my neighbors and the people on the street, I am demonstrating Christ’s love.

In showing this love, I am leaving a bit of myself with them, a fragrance, so to speak. This aroma of love has the power to change the hardest of hearts. As those who do not yet know Christ remember this fragrance of love, the Holy Spirit has the power to open their eyes to the truth of Christ’s love.

It is when we are expressing Christ in this way that we, too, become a fragrant offering to God. And that, indeed, is an aroma which he could breathe in all day long.