A Fragrance in God’s Life-Bouquet
As I walk through the dark of the early morning, the small night-light near my water kettle is my first action, so I click on the light. Immediately, the darkness flees and the room is suddenly full of enough light to see the bouquet of flowers sitting in the middle of the dining room table. Immediately, my mind races to a beautiful person, the one who graced me with this gift of fragrance. A smile crosses my lips as I think of her this morning—her 42nd birthday. It is a wonderful day, this day the LORD has made for us to celebrate her birth and the numerous years God has allowed her to live.
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s own possession, . . .”
(1 Peter 2: 9a NASB 1995 Translation)
Stop right there.
- “A PEOPLE FOR God’s own possession,”—God created everyone! Since He did, we are called to belong to Him, to become His children, to be a follower of Jesus, to accept Jesus into our heart, and to receive God’s Amazing Grace. When we do, we become “A PEOPLE FOR God’s own possession.”
- “A HOLY NATION”—God does not need us. Truly! God has the omnipotent power to do exactly whatever He wants; nonetheless, God sent Jesus to be born of a virgin, to walk in holy-mission, to take upon Himself the sins of all humanity upon the Cross of Calvary. As we accept God’s Never-Ending Mercy & Accept His Magnificent Grace, we become through Jesus “A HOLY NATION.”
- “A royal PRIESTHOOD”—The Old Testament describes how the highest priest would step into the holy-of-holies once a year to seek God’s favor for the people. Since there was always the possibility that the man of God could die as he was in God’s presence, the people would secure a rope to the priest’s ankle (just in case they needed to pull him out of the inner sanctuary). Consider what it is that Jesus Christ has done for each one of us! Our Lord Jesus has made us, THROUGH HIS SHED BLOOD, “A royal PRIESTHOOD.”
- “But you are A CHOSEN RACE”—The apostle Peter was not a perfect man. Not really a surprise, right. He was rash in his actions; he often spoke his words in what seemed without thinking first; & he was a great sinner (just like you & just like me). Still, Jesus called Simon Peter to come, follow Him primarily for one solitary reason: Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said to Peter: “But you are A CHOSEN RACE.”
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,
(1 Peter 2: 9 NASB 1995 Translation)
A PEOPLE FOR God’s own possession,
so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
As I walked through the darkness of the morning and spied the bouquet of flowers, the reality that “today” is the birthday of the one who gifted me with flowers for my birthday—tomorrow. I truly do not think it is happenstance that our birthdays are adjacent days upon the calendar. God thinks of everything!
When I consider this sister-in-Christ, I recall the many ways I have observed her life over the past years and the numerous ways she has shared the Gospel with students. Truly she has lived-out the words of the Holy Spirit—“so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
“for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD;
(1 Peter 2: 10 NASB 1995 Translation)
you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
Holy God is creating a bouquet of life, and each petal of every stemmed flower is made up of people. Together, the bouquet gives the world the fragrance of Jesus. One of those, a long-stemmed roses, or a few fragile orchids, or even pretty daisies, or . . . .
Truly God’s garden is vast with variety when lifted up and inhaled, and the person inhaling the scent from God’s vase is truly smelling the fragrance of God.
- Thank you, my dear friend, for this gorgeous bouquet of flowers.
- Thank you for reminding me of God’s beauty.
- Thank you for choosing to walk “into His marvelous light;”
- Thank you for sharing life with me.
- Thank you for being my friend—A Fragrance in God’s Life-Bouquet.
- Thank you for walking with God so that we are sisters-in-Christ together.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!
May God grant you so many more.
“Brethren,
(Philippians 3: 13-14 NASB 1995 Translation)
[brothers & sisters-in Christ]
I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”