Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (rational) service.
I love this picture...."Get back on the altar".
We are terrible at climbing down off the altar before God completes His work in us. We grow restless. We grow impatient. We forget who really is in control here. After all, Jesus didn't say, "I'll follow you." Did he? No. We are called to follow Him. But our old nature, from time to time, wants to raise its ugly head as if to say, "I'll take it from here God....you go take care of all that mess in the middle East"
In Jerusalem, when an animal was taken to the Temple to be sacrificed, that animal was a means of reaching God. The very aroma of that animal, as it was burned, became a sweet smelling savor to God. It wasn't the act of slaying that animal that brought God's favor, but rather the heart, intent and motive of the one who sacrificed.
The one thing about being a member of the Vineyard that has captured my heart has been the love of worship that is found among the people who are a part of my family. The love of literally climbing up to lay on that altar and give ourselves to God as worship. To honor Him...not for what He has done, but for who He is. To ascribe majesty and glory to Him for His character and nature. For it is from these things, character and nature, that real love was birthed. It was from this love that God chose to leave heaven and come down here to our world. It was from this love that Jesus saw His mission to completion. You see, Jesus climbed up on that altar. He gave Himself once and for all to break the power of sin. He became sin to break the penalty of sin. And He rose from the bonds of death to destroy the presence of sin. And He did if for me....a sinner. One who was hopelessly lost and without power to save myself. He died for me. Jesus is the ultimate living sacrifice.
The altar is not something we go to every Sunday or Wednesday to climb upon so we can become that "living sacrifice" Paul wrote about in Romans 12. The altar is daily before us. It is there in the morning when we first wake up. It is in our workplace and school. The altar is at the grocery store and the Doctor's office. We can't run from it, nor should we wish to. Our lives and what other's see in us, as believers, is defined by our worship. If my life is truly His, then everything I do and say becomes worship unto Him. We can't escape the fact that we are called to live a life of worship to Him in front of the world.
Matthew 5:16 reads Let your light so shine (or shine in such a way) before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. The daily realization that we become worship unto God, illuminates us with His light. This enables others around us to be touched and awakened from their own spiritual slumber so that they see our good works. See that there is something different about the way we live and do business with the world. Scripture doesn't say, "By their religious tracts you shall know them." It says we are defined and known by our love for God.
I think I'll just stay here on this altar. I feel like praising God some more.
God on you....
mb
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