Ephesians 5:1-2

"Therefore be imitators of God, as well-beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God..."About SerittaSeritta Nelson is blessed with not one, but two! She and her husband have twin girls, Jordynn and Joyann. These young toddlers are full of life and lots of energy.Seritta's Full BioMoms for ChristHello everyone. This is Seritta and welcome to the Moms for Christ podcast. My Scripture today is Ephesians 5 verse 1-2. “Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

“Jesus Himself was a sweet offering...” In the Old Testament of the Bible, one way they sacrificed unto the Lord was by burning an incense offering. People's faithful prayers would rise up to the Lord and they would burn a scented stick of wood - incense - and the smoke and sweet fragrance would also rise up in the air to be an offering to our God.

Jesus Himself was a sweet offering to the Lord. He lived His life here on Earth with devout love unto our God. He demonstrated God's love to His close friends, His disciples. They followed Him to learn more about the Father. They ate together, prayed together, visited, washed each other's feet, and trusted each other with their very lives. They were faithful to worshiping God with their living and as more people became followers of Christ, they also made the choice to be bound up in God's great love and follow the example of Jesus and His disciples.

Recently, I looked at my kids snack label and found that the sweetening ingredient was rice syrup. I thought, ‘How did they get the rice to become so sweet?’ According to a food website, it's a repeated process of cooking down rice and barley for its enzymes until the starchy water becomes a thick sweet syrup. It all comes down to being exposed to constant heat. Then squeezing out the syrup, separating it from the remaining solids.

I thought about when heat or pressure occurs in my life. Those times when I'm between a rock and a hard place. Do I come out on the other side of that fire sweet and satisfactory to the Lord or do I come out bitter and resentful? God always makes a way for us to get right and have peace with Him.

And I'm reminded of when Jesus was getting ready to make the ultimate sacrifice and die to make a way for the rest of us to know Father God. Then He told Peter that he would deny ever knowing him three times but Peter didn’t believe it. When pressure was coming from all around him, he did deny knowing Jesus. When he realized what he had done, the Scriptures in the book of Luke says, “He went out and cried bitterly.” At this time, he knew he was no longer pleasing to the Lord and was remorseful.

“To be a pleasing aroma to God...” Instead of sitting in bitterness, we know he made things right with the Lord and let go of his sin. He came out on the other side proving time and again that his loyalty was towards the Lord. Peter became brave. He was no longer concerned about protecting his own life. He instead lived to honor God with radical love and obedience. Peter’s whole life became an acceptable fragrance unto the Lord.

I want to pray for us moms to become fully faithful in the Lord. To be a pleasing aroma to God and submit everything to him. And Soloman said in the book of 2 Chronicles, “Behold I'm about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him.”

Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for making the way, for being our help. You are the light in a dark place.