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“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14)
The Jews were to take 10% of their crops and flocks and eat those things in a feast before God in a place of his choosing. In doing so they would learn to “revere God always”
So it seems it may not be natural or accidental to give God the reverence he deserves… rather reverence is a learned behavior and it is learned by sacrifice... regular sacrifice.
Let me suggest that the first thing we should learn to sacrifice to God is our time. It takes time to assemble with other Christians to worship and It takes time to kneel and pray. It takes time to study God’s word and it takes time to meditate on His teachings. It also takes time to “love our neighbors as ourselves”
So I wonder how much time we should sacrifice to God… 10% like in tithing? If so… what a deal… we have 90% of our time to please ourselves.
Let me suggest something else for your consideration. Do you suppose it could be true that the more you sacrifice the more you come to reverence God? If so then giving up only 10% of whatever would not lead to very deep reverence would it?
Here’s the thing… when God gave up his son for us he purchased and owns us.. lock, stock and barrel and when we believed in him and were baptized into the blood of his son we recognized and accepted that fact.
Learn to revere God by matching His 100% sacrifice (Jesus Christ) with your own total sacrifice. After all the only ones who will live with God in eternity are those who have forsaken all to revere Him.
I might have a great singing voice and be able to sing all the different parts of a song and might be the best song leader at church but if I don’t have love… I might as well be a coyote howling at the moon.
I might know my Bible backwards and forwards and be on the right side of all the major and minor doctrinal issues and might could preach like Peter on the Day of Pentecost but if I don’t have love… I might as well be whistling in the wind.
I might attend every service the church offers and sit on the front row and be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave but if I don’t have love… I might as well be a dog chasing his tail always coming close but never quite able to catch it.
I might be generous to a fault and give a dollar or two to every beggar standing on a street corner but if I don’t have love… I might as well be a hog dressed in a white dress wearing a pearl necklace around my neck.
Love loves the unlovable. Love can absorb insults and mistreatment and ugliness and take those things and turn them into a smile and well wishes.
Choose love and God will choose you.
A friend came through town the other day and gave me a book he thought I might be interested in. Receiving a book as a gift is kind of a funny thing because there is some obligation to read it to be prepared for the inevitable question… well how did you like it?
It’s kind of like someone giving you a dog for your birthday which is more like a 13-14 year obligation.
Anyway I liked the book. In fact I’m fascinated by it… fascinated enough to want to share some of it with you.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, in Samaria and in the uttermost parts of the earth. The author of the book points out it was Peter who had the “keys” to the kingdom who opened the doors to the Kingdom by providing the Spirit to the Jews in Acts 2… to the Samaritans in Acts 8 and to the Gentiles in Acts 10.
That’s just a snippet of what’s in this book and I can’t claim that I’m in 100% agreement with the author but I do love people who love and understand the scriptures and can broaden my understanding of them.
What a nice surprise this book was. Don’t even think about giving me a dog.
Over the course of my life I have figured out some things about myself. One of those is if friends move away no matter how beloved they might be to me I just sort of lose track of them especially if they aren’t on some kind of social media.
A few years back a really good friend of mine from church was moving to another state and he asked if we would come see them. I said… probably not.
You see in my life I’m all about accomplishing things and a good day is one where I get a lot done and that’s where my time and mind is focused.
So here’s what I have come up with. Within the past year I started writing down on a piece of paper (that I keep at my office) the names of people that I need to call from time to time. On that list of paper are the names of 3-4 preachers that I have been associated with over the years. There’s the name of a retired drug rep. who I have known for over thirty years. There’s the names of a few people that I went to college with. There’s the name of a Veterinarian that I used to work for years ago.
The other day I called an old preacher friend and we got to talking about another preacher that we both knew who I hadn’t talked to in years (because he’s not on my list) so I told my friend I was going to hang up and call the other preacher like right now and I did. I talked to the other preacher and his wife (who are both in their mid 80’s) and had a really nice visit. I think it meant a lot to them that I had called.
I called another friend who I hadn’t talked to in a few years and found out that he had been battling cancer.
Any way I guess I realized that I had sort of a handicap when it came to keeping up with old friends but fortunately I figured out a crutch to help me out with my handicap.
Don’t wait to hear about your old friends when you read their obituaries call them now it will be good for you and them.
In 2 Samuel we read of the Thirty Mighty men of King David of Israel. They were great warriors and had shed much blood in the defense of Israel. They are listed by name and therefore were memorialized forever.
In the New Testament we read of the Twelve disciples of Jesus Christ who might also be considered to be mighty men. They weren’t involved in physical warfare brandishing swords and shields and accompanied by the sounds of trumpets and battle cries vanquishing their enemies.
Rather they were spiritual heroes fighting a spiritual war against the enemies of Jesus Christ. They didn’t slaughter their enemies with the sword but rather allowed their own selves to be killed, tortured and slaughtered in the spreading of the good news of salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
Like the Thirty their names have been memorialized for eternity.
Who hasn’t heard the names of Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the zealot and Matthias who replaced Judas.
The Thirty’s mission was to kill and conquer their enemies… the twelve’s mission was to convert and build their enemies into fellow spiritual soldiers.
The Thirty were memorialized for their mighty deeds of war and accrued great honor and glory but their honor and glory paled in comparison to the honor and glory of the Twelve mighty men of Jesus Christ.
Who could have predicted that?
During this time of the year (Christmas) I see TV commercials where the message to humanity is if you say the following prayer you will be saved…
“Dear God, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sins. Forgive me. I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe that He took my sins to the cross, that He died in my place, and I believe that You raised Him to life, and I’d like to trust Him now as my Savior, and I want to follow Him as my Lord from this day forward forever. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen".(Human reasoning)
I mean… it sounds good and it contains several valid biblical concepts. The only problem with it is that it is not biblical as far as leading to salvation. You might even say it is anti-biblical.
For comparisons sake please consider what the Apostle Peter had to say when he was asked what to do to be saved…
“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
That’s a huge difference right? Why would a keen student of the Bible substitute “human reasoning” for “Acts 2:38”?
Here’s why… because proponents of the sinner’s prayer want to eliminate Baptism from any kind of role for salvation and they have to massage any scripture that couples baptism and salvation to make it mean something it doesn’t plainly mean.
Please, please, please search the scriptures and follow after God and not man. After all it could affect you eternally.
We’re introduced to Job in the same book that carries his name… Job. We find that he was “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from all evil”.
He had been blessed with many children, livestock and servants and he was called “the greatest of all men in the east”.
Even Satan had heard of Job and accused God of “building a hedge (of protection) around him and blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land”.
Let me point out that nothing is said about the righteousness of Job’s sons and daughters or even of his wife and yet they shared in Jobs blessings by being of his household. Let me suggest a concept here… it’s possible to piggyback on the righteousness of others and share in their blessings with out any effort on our own part.
Also notice this God gave Satan permission to do anything he wanted to except for the taking of Job’s life. So, Satan didn’t waste any time killing Job’s 10 children and only spared Job and his wife. I wonder why Mrs. Job wasn’t killed too? It might be because Job was “one flesh” with his wife and killing her would be as close as you could get to killing Job. My guess is that even though her righteousness is not mentioned she was bound to be a righteous person as well by virtue of her oneness with Job.
So what does this mean for all of us? We might look at our own blessings and assume those blessings are based on our own righteousness when they may not be at all… we may just be kind of tagging along spiritually. Maybe a little spiritually lazy… always content to live in the shadow of others.
Job was a mountain of a man spiritually and cast a huge spiritual shadow and many were blessed living in his shadow. That’s great… bully for Job, but let’s step out from whosever shadow we may be standing in and let the sun shine in our faces and make our own shadows.
