I am SO BLESSED to have each of you continually reading the Word of God and Encouraging me and each other. Thank You!!!
Leviticus chapter 3.
Fellowship offering. What a great sacrifice that can be made that enables us to have fellowship with God. Think about it. Our sin has put a division between us and the Lord. Our fellowship with God is broken. Christ sacrifice enables us to be United back with God into a life of Fellowship. We can commune with God! That is an amazing thought! The God Who created us is so far above us yet loves us so much that he sent his son to this lowly Earth so as to forgive us of our sins so that we can have fellowship with the father through the work of Christ. If I can truly just grasp the reality of this great Act of love it would forever change me! What an honor! What a privilege! What an amazing feat of Love demonstrated! This should drive me to a state of forever praise and thanksgiving! This should motivate me to want to spend more time with my Lord! This should motivate my every action to be mixed with ongoing thoughts of the Lord seeking his will, his power, his Direction, his help, his Council, Etc. Thank you Lord for the unearned privilege of being able to fellowship with you, not just in my quiet time, but in every second of every minute of every hour of every day!
Reading a chapter like this reminds me to be so glad that no more sacrifices are needed and that Jesus paid it all for us! Check out Romans 6:9-11. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
I got goose bumps (I think of them as Holy Spirit bumps) reading your entry, Pastor Blair. We are so blessed to be chosen by Him.
The peace offering was truly a beautiful thing. As a voluntary offering, it naturally followed the burnt offering and the grain offering – a natural next step after repentance, gratitude, and reconciliation. Part of the offering could be eaten by the person presenting it, so it was fellowship by sharing a meal with God. I imagine the aroma around the tabernacle was like a BBQ today.
Many of the Mosaic laws like this one had underlying health benefits. In ancient cultures, fat was considered the best part of the animal. Did God keep the best part for himself … or are His people beginning to see His true nature? He kept men from the one part of the animal that causes clogged arteries and heart attacks. Everything He does is based on love, for He is love itself. We might not understand it now but we will.
Thank you for the great comments! This makes me think of the moments where I truly feel connected to God. Whether it is in prayer, or grief, or thanksgiving, and I finally see Gods hand in it all, I get a rush of tingles and feel like God is right there with me in that moment. It’s always a moment of thankfulness, praise, euphoria. I want more of those moments! I want more fellowship with God, every single day. I want to listen to Him and follow His ways and live my best life for Him!