S168P4 – Fragrant offerings: pure and holy
Exo. 30:34-36
The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you.”
When I think of incense, certain adjectives come to mind. I have smelled some which were very sweet. I have smelled others which were spicy or even peppery. Still others were earthy or herbal or even fruity. One adjective I never associate with incense is salty. Yet, the Lord instructed Moses to include salt in this incense recipe and equated that saltiness with purity and holiness. This is reminiscent of the instruction from Jesus himself that we are to be salt in this world never losing our saltiness. [Mt. 5:13-16] Elsewhere in the scriptures, salt represents covenant in a sacrifice. [Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19] This salt is not just a characteristic of our sacrifices but an indispensable ingredient with these same implications for us.
When we sacrifice to the Lord, we must do so in purity and holiness. Whatever we place before the Lord must meet a standard. This is not a matter of good, better and best. This is a matter of worthy or unworthy. The worthy sacrifice is comprised of our best and given with joy and a desire to please the Lord. It is certainly not enough to give God our scraps and to do so merely out of obligation. The saltiness of our sacrifice is about the manner in which we bring it to the Lord. Even more, there is a covenant represented in every offering because we give in response to Christ first giving of himself. We are to sacrifice for him as He sacrificed for us when creating this new covenant, and his sacrifice was pure and holy.
In our contemporary American lexicon, being salty is not a good thing. In our spiritual lexicon, it is the best thing we can be. The same way this saltiness is to inform our manner of speech and behavior toward the world, it must inform the way we give of ourselves to God. Only a holy sacrifice will satisfy a holy God. Only a pure aroma will give him pleasure. In the recipe that makes up this fragrance, we cannot forget this ingredient. All it takes is a moment of reflection and consideration to make sure that our offerings fit the bill. Father, continue to transform our hearts and minds to be sure that our offerings are pure, holy and fragrant before You.