Advent - Day 7

Aroma – Ephesians 5:1-2 (see also Gen. 8:21; Ex. 29; Lev. 1)
Saturday, December 6

We asked our children once to name one of their favorite things about Christmas and our son, without pausing, said that he liked the way the house smelled. He loved coming home and being drawn into the kitchen by the aroma of freshly baked cookies and stollen.
A live Christmas tree and cedar branches from the yard added to fragrance in the house. Pleasing aromas to be sure and a reminder to those coming home that someone cared enough about them to fill the house with pleasing aromas.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he exhorts his readers to imitate God and to live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (See Old Testament references in Gen. 8:21; Ex. 29:18, 25, 41; Lev. 1:9, 13, 17 and the text notes.) The “pleasing aroma” of burnt offerings was a way that God took delight in the worship of Him. Through their sacrifices God’s children offered themselves and atoned for their sins. The Christ of Christmas became the sacrifice and is that fragrant offering for both the Ephesians to whom Paul wrote and for us today.

Food for thought: When the pleasing aromas of the season fill your house, be reminded of Christ’s love for you and the sacrifice He made.