Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Joshua 24:15.

…So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 30: His sacrifice a sweet smelling savor unto God. Leviticus 1:2-9: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. He shall slay the young bull before the LORD; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head and the suet over the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar. Its entrails, however, and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD.’” And, Ephesians 5:2: And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

I loved in My Utmost for His Highest today by Oswald Chambers, what he wrote about Jesus: “We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh. Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of “myself” that I would have apart from Him?…Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is.”

We know what we are in this life because we are all bound in a fallen world that contains both joy and hardship, light and darkness. And Jesus, the Son, came and showed us what living fully in the love and trust of the Father looks like. I always wondered about the third verse cited above. The fruits we cannot produce apart from Him. That verse was in today’s Devotions for Women and she wrote about her garden of vegetables; and I couldn’t help but think about all the gardens of flowers, and wildflowers, and vegetables and trees, each unique and so beautiful. When we are in nature we experience a difference in our thoughts, a lessening of stress. And if we allow ourselves to take in the immensity of beauty that stands as testimony to our Creator, how can we not be humbled? How can we not be in awe? That God created flowers astounds me with joy! What flowers of beauty, what fruit do I want to flourish in me? Kindness. Love. Gentleness. Trust. Hope. Faithfulness. The very fruit of “The sweetness of the Son of God…the wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure – His Son is.” We can’t manufacture that. But we can be nourished in the Spirit who loves us and created this incredible life we can live fully with Him with us. In joy and hope and thankfulness we can let the beauty of His creation breathe life into us as we stay connected with Him. Last night on Nova I watched part of the episode on Quantum Entanglement…”A physical phenomenon where particles interact in such a way that their quantum states become linked, making it impossible to describe them independently, even when separated by vast distances. When the state of one entangled particle is measured, the state of the other is instantly determined, a phenomenon famously referred to by Albert Einstein as “spooky action at a distance.” 100 years ago Einstein theorized what is only today able to be measured. How can we begin to comprehend so great a mind that is our Creator who created all of this and holds it all together? Help us Lord to come back to You! One day we will be with Him fully but we can be with Him today in great joy so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body – a “quantum” entanglement of breathtaking possibility!