My Self, an Offering to God
An offering made by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord. (Lev. 1:13)
Lev. 6:8-13; I Sam. 7:9-10; Rom. 12:1; Phil. 4:18-19; Heb. 13:15-16; I Pet. 2:5
What Is God Saying?
This message must have come upon me with unusual force for in this series of devotional thoughts and personal prayer, it is repeated in First Light, Vol. I, on February 18. The texts are taken from two different books and could have come from others since the same message, word for word, is found in several places in the Old Testament. Interestingly, I was moved to offer two different prayers on the same subject. God must have wanted me to get the message. Both texts have to do with the dedicat10n of the whole self to God.
The ritual of animal sacrifice as used in the Old Testament, the burnt offering, seems repulsive to us today except for its wonderful symbolism, a symbol of our Lord's once offering up of Himself on the Cross for our salvation. God is a holy God, a kind of holiness that was unknown to the gods of other nations around ancient Israel. Through sin, man willfully rejected God's way, ignored God's will, and paved the road to his destruction. The wages of sin is, and always has been death. God, in His mercy, provided a way to deal with sin in the burnt offering of the Old Covenant and the way in the Cross of the New Covenant. ‘While we were yet helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly’ (Rom. 5:10).
The death of Christ on the Cross is the door to salvation, but it is also an example. It still symbolizes the dedication of the whole self—every plan, every dream, every ambition, every thought, and every heartbeat in response to the amazing grace of God.
How Does This Apply To Us?
Because of the ultimate sacrifice of Calvary, offerings of fire are no longer necessary, but the symbolism is beautiful. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’ God gave all. It's the way of love. Isaac Watts concludes his great hymn with the majestic thought that all-giving love can only be answered by all-giving love.
"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."
Love that is awakened by God's love is not static or passive. Remember, ‘He loved us first’ (1 John 4:19). It lives and it gives. The more it gives, the more it lives. God always has something better for us if we give Him the best that we have, even if it may seem to be an offering by fire.
Pray With Me
Heavenly Father, Your great love has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ and sealed to us in the Holy Spirit. Give me a heart that sees ever more deeply into the mysteries of Calvary. As the greatness of Your love is there revealed, may I find it my greatest joy to bring in return, the whole offering of myself to You. May the dross-consuming fire perfectly symbolize my offering. May every substance in my heart foreign to Your holy purpose disappear in the flames. May every bit of rebellious pride be completely consumed. I accept the kindness of chastening, the refining fire if this is the way You bring me to Yourself.
‘Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame,
The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove,
My heart an altar and Thy love the flame.’
Lord, I love You. Your way is best and right All that I have is Yours to possess, mold, fashion, and use.
Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
‘If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it’ (John 14:13). That is the simplest, yet most sublime guarantee for answered prayer in the Bible. We ask it. Jesus does it. However, that verse contains an essential and unavoidable condition: if ... in My name. Prayer that is accompanied by the offering of one's whole self is certainly a pleasing odor to the Lord. It is holding nothing back. It is wanting God's will to be done. In its simplest form, it is in the name of the Lord. That kind of prayer is on the way to being answered. It cannot fail. It has Jesus' guarantee, I will do it!’
