A Life that Smells Good to God

Tuesday - March 29th

Scripture to Read Today: Ephesians 5:1-17

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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 NLT

The first recorded chemist in history was a woman named Tapputi. She was a perfume maker mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dated around 1200 BC in Babylonian Mesopotamia. As the Mesopotamian Royal Palace overseer, she held an influential role in the Mesopotamian government and religious system. She used flowers, oil, calamus, Cyperus, myrrh, and balsam. She added water or other solvents, then distilled and filtered several times. Tapputi's still is the oldest referenced one in history.

Today, chemists and perfume makers believe that Tapputi's perfume may have been some of the sweetest and best-smelling of all historical fragrances. Some of the most famous stars of our time have their own perfumes or colognes. Each tries to develop a fragrance with modern chemists that they hope will be so distinct and sought after that they will make a lot of money and gain greater fame.

Whether you live in the ancient world of Tapputi or the modern world of stars with their own perfumes, we can all appreciate things that smell good. None of us wants to take in terrible odors. The Apostle Paul challenged the believers at Corinth that our lives are to be a Christ-like aroma to others for Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15). He even suggested that God Himself savors the sweet fragrance our lives become.

Ephesians 5:2 says we are to "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ." It continues in describing that love by saying, Jesus "loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." Christ's loving sacrifice for our sins was a sweet fragrance to the Father. If we live a life filled with Christ-like love, we too become a sweet aroma to God.

A life filled with love smells good to those who experience that love. That life is also an aroma that pleases God. Are you following the sacrificial love of Christ's example?

When we follow the example of Christ and live a life filled with love, our life smells good to God!