For the last few mornings, I have begun to get back into my routine of the morning walk. Before the cold weather set in December, I was walking each morning at a pace between 3 and 3½ miles an hour for about an hour each morning. At first, it was difficult to get started but just like anything else, it did get to the point where my mornings did not feel complete unless I had done my walk. With the return of warmer weather, I am now determined to not only increase my pace but to increase the number of miles walked each morning.
It’s actually peaceful in Henderson between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. I love listening to southern gospel music while I walk; this morning a song by the group Heaven Bound came on, Can the world see Jesus in you. After listening to the song, I took out my headphones and paused the music. I felt the need to spend a few minutes in prayer while on my walk. This is nothing new, as I usually spend twenty to thirty minutes in prayer while walking. There are mornings that I have prayed just to be able to make it back home before passing out, or praying for the needs of the various families in our church. This morning, I needed to pray about some things in my life. For those of you who are regular readers, you know that there are things in my past that I am not too proud of. I have been twice divorced; I failed as a father with the children of my first marriage. When I first accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior in 1988, I didn’t spiritually mature and continued to make decisions based upon the flesh. I did not become serious about my faith in God or what it meant until 2006. Since then, I have come to appreciate my salvation and its high cost. I have become more aware of the fighting of my flesh against the Holy Spirit of God.
As I was praying for guidance, I passed a fence where honeysuckles had nearly completely covered the post and the corner. The fragrance that the flowers gave off could be smelled from about half a block away. It did get me thinking and wondering if my life, in the eyes of God, smelled as beautiful as those honeysuckles did. The apostle Paul wrote: And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (Ephesians 5:2). As this verse came to mind, I began to think that when God looks down at my life He sees the blood of Christ that covers my sins. Just as the Old Testament sin offerings were said to offer up a sweet savour to the Lord, so has the blood of Christ done that for the life of every believer. I also thought about another passage: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (II Corinthians 2:14-16). Again the apostle Paul is not only saying that God does smell the sweet savor of Christ’s sacrifice on all who have accepted salvation that only Christ can bring, but just as the breeze this morning carried the fragrance of the honeysuckles, our lives can spread the sweet savor of Christ’s sacrifice just by sharing the gospel with others.
The apostle Paul also taught through his writings that the very things Christ has instructed us to do can become a source of sweet savor to God as long as our hearts are right: For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 16-19). While Paul is commending the Christians at the church at Philippi for providing for his needs while at Thessalonica, he praises them that their sacrifice in supporting him was a sweet-smelling savor.
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, he shared this teaching: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:34-40). When we do these things with the right heart, I do believe in the spirit of the teachings of the apostle Paul, that God also smells a sweet savor simply because we showed others mercy and love which in itself is a manifestation of Christ’s love within us. We become a representation of the saving grace of Jesus. May our lives give off a pleasing smell to God as did those honeysuckles do for man.
