Corona Devo 1726

It's the end of the gardening season where I live.  The very end.  Not many plants are still hanging on by this time of year, but my husband pulled in one last harvest last night: basil.  

Are you a fan?  

We sure are, and namely in the form of pesto (walnuts, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, and olive oil: all  ground-up into a loose and delicious paste). 

But the star of pesto is the basil, and the star and scent of our house last night was basil.  It's so fragrant.  We all know the smell of basil, because it's like no other and it's strong.  It's pungent.  It's telltale: you know it's basil when you smell basil.  

My kitchen was filled with the scent because I was cleaning the leaves off of their stalks and then the pesto ingredients were working their magic together while inside of the food processor.  

As our kids trickled indoors from different nightly activities, they each sniffed the air and immediately knew what daddy had brought in from the garden: basil.

~~~

I hope that basil isn't the only example that we can think of when a fragrant offering comes to mind.    

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  ~Ephesians 5:2

Jesus Christ fills a room, fills people's hearts, and fills people's lives with a fragrant offering to God.   

When people met Jesus in the Bible...they were touched.  They were affected.  It was like they breathed Him in, and He filled them with His aroma.  (I pray that we can inhale Him today.)

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. (43) And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. (44) She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.  

(45) “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.  

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”  

(46) But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”  

(47) Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. (48) Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”  ~Luke 8:42-48

~~~

If Christ were an herb, He might be basil.  His presence fills a room.  When we are in the midst of Him...there's no mistaking it.  We can sense His presence, and our hearts burn within us.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. (31) Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (32) They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  ~Luke 24:30-32

Just as basil is the star of pesto...Jesus Christ is the star of our lives.  He is the center, and He should be at the center of our decisions, our focus, and our hearts.  When we are living life in obedience to God and His ways, then Jesus is our main ingredient.  He is like no other, and once we know Him, and we begin to focus on Him, He becomes fragrant in every area and aspect of our lives.  And we are not the only ones who will notice.  A life filled with the aroma of Christ is tell-tale: you know it and others know it too.    

How?  Because followers-of-Jesus will begin to smell like Jesus...so to speak.  We will wreak of His essence, and we will exude His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Believers living for the Lord have faith that looks like no other...and it's strong.  It's pungent.  It's telltale: you know it's a follower-of-Christ when you encounter them.  

Father, oh that we could absorb the essence of You today thus emit You to others.  Let Your Word sink in and settle over us.  Make us more like You today, Lord.  Give our lives the aroma of You.  Amen.

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. (16) 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? (17) Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.  ~2 Corinthians 2:15-17

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com