12.20.2009

Leviticus 2:1

Leviticus 2 verse 1 - [The Grain Offering]
 
" 'When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, your offering is to be of the finest flour..."

As I understand it, the grain offering can be seen as a type of response to what G-d provided in Leviticus 1 [Sin offering]. The thought being, "A loving GOD provided a way for me to approach and walk in harmony with him? How can I respond?" Since G-d loves His creation, He tells people the kind of response He's looking for. He requires the best.

Where do you find wheat in the Negev (where the Hebrews wandered for 40 years)? Once you have it, when do you have time to grind it into flour? When these instructions were given, how long did it take to sink in, I wonder? Did they think, "This GOD wants my best. After making a way for me, how could I not offer my best?"

These days perfectly sifted fine flour is only minutes away and costs me little of my income. What's the lesson here? The point isn't flour. If it was, it would merely hint at empty religious ritual. For me the lesson is giving G-d my best. In light of Jesus' sacrifice [sin offering] for me, why respond with anything less?

With that attitude, my relationship to the Lord takes on a "get to" posture instead of a "have to" posture. Legalism's burden lifts. I'm free to live the best life because the focus is taken off of me and shifted to what's been done for me. Its not my efforts that matter. Its Christ's accomplishments that mater.

I have no grain, but I do have a borrowed prayer. "Lord, help yourself to my life."

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