Fragrance
Smells are evocative! There are nice ones and bad ones! I love the smell of a roast dinner cooking, or a log fire gently crackling on a winter's night, or freshly cut grass in the summer.
On the other hand, I can't stand the ‘pong’ of a full baby's ‘poo-filled’ nappy, or unwashed socks, or my sweaty running top after a long run!
I still find it quite overwhelming to be greeted by strong perfumes when walking into a department store, or the smell of fresh fish in a supermarket.
Smells affect the atmosphere, be that in a positive or negative way!
In last week's blog, we looked at three items that God asked Moses to put into the tabernacle. This week I want to look at a fourth thing that was also in there: an altar for burning incense. God said...
“Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so that incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.”
Burning the incense each morning and evening meant that its fragrance would have been constantly filling the atmosphere. Every time one of the priests went in, they would have been aware of it.
God said He would dwell in the tabernacle, so it was a holy place. Being in there would have been very different to what was outside. That experience would no doubt be enhanced by the fragrance of the burning incense.
I think this as a picture of how God wants us, his followers to be. Today, Christians carry the presence of God in them, meaning we can affect the atmosphere, like the fragrant incense did.
As you go about your day-to-day life do you bring God's ‘fragrance’ into your place of work, or school, or gym or with your family and friends?
In other words, does your presence, actions or words change the atmosphere, bringing a different Godly ‘aroma’?
God bless
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader