Dear Ones,
Hope you have a fragrant day! Yesterday afternoon and evening we spent with Mark’s family by the lake. The grandsons have caught some fish off the dock and are also enjoying fun things in Baxter. Later this morning we are all going to a movie at the nearby theater!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
One morning, after Al and I had prayed together, I mixed together ingredients for meatballs that I was going to bake after my personal time with the Lord. While I was in prayer, I could smell the fragrant aroma of all the spices I put into the meatballs and it was so alluring. It reminded me I had just read about Noah who, after the flood had subsided, offered burnt offerings to the Lord. It says in Genesis 8:21, that the aroma was pleasing to the Lord. Paul also says in II Cor 2:15-16a, “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.”

When we love and fear the Lord, we will exude a beautiful fragrance of life to those around us. So many in our culture do not love the Lord or even have a reverential fear of the Lord. It’s as if He doesn’t exist or He is far off. We are like a stench to them. They are blind to God’s love and have chosen death over life. How sad it will be one day when they die and miss the glory of heaven. But when we choose the Lord and life, we will be ushered into His presence when we die and leave this earth. Until that day we are to live for Him each day of our lives and be an alluring fragrance.

Life is short and we owe the Lord our whole life for the debt He paid for us. So many however are going along with contemporary culture that leads away from God and embraces what is false. We see the results as so many are lonely, anxious, without purpose and trying to fill the void they feel with things that will never satisfy. May the Lord help those of us who know Him to be a fragrance that draws people to the Lord, that they may also have eternal life. We know that our lives will one day be over and we will experience the consequences of our choices. Let us choose the Lord now and let His fragrance draw others to Him.

Challenge for today: Use the opportunities that the Lord sends each day to invite others to experience Him.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy