I guess the better question would be, what does thankful smell like? According to Scripture it should smell like us.
“ I am grateful that God always makes it possible for Christ to lead us to victory. God also helps us spread the knowledge about Christ everywhere, and this knowledge is like the smell of perfume. ” II Corinthians 2:14 CEV
When we center our focus on Christ and follow His lead He will always – ALWAYS – lead us to victory. With those victories comes our testimony of God’s goodness, His power and His provision. Those testimonies bring the knowledge of Christ to the world and that knowledge brings the smell of a sweet perfume.
So, we have the opportunity to be God’s perfume. Thankfulness should smell like us.
In the Old Testament, when a sacrifice or an offering of thanksgiving was made the priest also burned incense to make the sacrifice smell sweet.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to give our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord.
“Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. 2 Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.” Romans 12:1-2 CEV
We give our lives to Him to be molded and used for His honor. As we thank Him for all He has done and the purpose He gives our life, we are a living sacrifice that is pure and pleasing.
The Lord has so many good things in store for us. He created us for good things. He’s not looking to withhold blessings from us, He desires to overflow us with blessings.
“ I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus. 3 We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. 4 God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.” II Peter 1:2-4 CEV
Take time to let those verses sink in. We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. Not by our own power but by His. He gave us great and marvelous promises. Now that’s a reason to be thankful. It’s knowledge like this, that God wants us sharing with others.
God doesn’t expect us to live a life that pleases Him on our own. No, He gave us His promise that He would empowered us for the life He called us too.
“God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are.” Ephesians 2:10 CEV
When obstacles, trials and difficult times come, and they will, let’s refrain from complaining and worrying. Instead, let’s use the knowledge that God has provided victory for us through His power and His promises.
That way, we will be the ones who are the sweet smelling perfume of thankfulness.