The merits of our great Redeemer rise to God like the sweetest incense. Think of Christ's perfect life or his sacrificial death—both carry the same beautiful fragrance to heaven.
There was a sweet aroma in his active life. He honored God's law perfectly. Every command sparkled like a precious jewel set in the pure gold of his character. And there was equal sweetness in his suffering. Without a word of complaint, he endured hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness. In Gethsemane, he sweat great drops of blood. He gave his back to those who beat him, his cheeks to those who tore out his beard. He was nailed to that cruel cross to suffer the wrath of God in our place.
Both his perfect life and his substitutionary death smell sweet to the Most High. And for the sake of his doing and his dying, his suffering in our place and his obedience credited to our account, the Lord our God accepts us.
What a preciousness must there be in him to overcome our worthlessness! What a sweet fragrance to overpower our stench! What cleansing power in his blood to wash away sins like ours! What glory in his righteousness to make creatures like us accepted in the Beloved!
Mark this, believer—your acceptance is as sure and unchanging as Christ himself! Never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without him—that is true. But once you have received his merit? You cannot be unaccepted. Despite all your doubts, all your fears, all your sins, God's gracious eye never looks at you in anger. Though he sees sin in you, when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ. Always blessed. Always precious to the Father's heart.
So lift up a song! Tonight, as the incense of Christ's merit rises before God's sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise rise with it.
Closing Prayer
Tonight, stop rehearsing your failures. God isn't looking at them. He's looking at Christ's perfect record—and seeing you in him. Let that truth turn your evening into worship.