The Modern Sacrifice

We often read about long ago when the Jews went through extreme rituals for sacrificing to the Lord. They had the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and so many more. In fact, Ezekiel 46:23 tells them, “You shall daily make a burnt offering to the Lord…you shall prepare it every morning.” Whenever I read this, it makes me feel unmitigated gratefulness that Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice, and that I am not required to do all that.

But sometimes I get an “off the hook” attitude. I tend to forget that although I’m not required to give God a burnt offering every day, there are other sacrifices He asks me to make. He says to present my body as a living sacrifice by not conforming to the world (Romans 12:1-2), and to offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 116:17). These are just a couple things.

I’d like to just think about what a Jewish man’s day would look like during the time of Moses. The man would wake up in the morning, go outside, and collect the family’s manna for his wife to cook. After he eats breakfast, he goes out behind his tent to where the animals are, and goes straight to the area where he has placed all the perfect ones. Maybe he calls it the ‘Sacrifice Section’ or something. So he picks out a little sheep, and goes through the process of sheering it, then butchering it, then gathering all the required parts for the sacrifice. Putting it in a bag, he walks about a mile over to the tabernacle, where the priest offers it to the Lord. By the time he gets home, it’s lunchtime, and after that he “goes to work,” probably sewing curtains for the tabernacle. In the evening, he comes home again, but as dinner is finishing, he remembers that today is Wednesday—his day to give his weekly sacrifice. It takes him until late at night to finish, and as he walks home he makes a mental note to remember that sometime this month he will need to do his monthly offering, and also that the yearly offering is coming up soon.

This man’s life is practically consumed the Lord’s offerings (I did not mention the fact that he sacrifices separately for his wife and children’s sins as well). He is focused on serving the Lord. He didn’t have a chance to think he was “off the hook.” I shouldn’t think that either. A few questions to ask myself are, Is my life consumed with offering up sacrifices to God? Am I focused on serving God every day of my life? If not, what can I do to get that way? Even though our salvation is a free gift, God doesn’t want us to live a lazy life, He wants our thoughts and actions to be totally concentrated on His will.