Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’ ” (Numbers 28:1-2)
For the next two chapters, the Bible describes different offerings that are to be presented to the LORD at specific times. Some of the offerings are weekly, others are presented monthly during the New Moon while others are presented at the different festivals such as the Feast of Tabernacles. It also describes the offerings that were to presented in the morning and those that were to be presented in the evening. In short, offerings of different types and for different reasons were commonly brought to the Sanctuary making this an important part of Israel’s existence.
Obviously, we do not follow the same practices today but I do think we should follow the same pattern. By that I mean, presenting offerings — and not necessarily the monetary kind — daily, weekly, monthly and at festivals should be part of our life, individually and corporately. More specifically, in the morning we should offer a gift of praise because He allowed us to awake. In the evening, we can offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving for all that He blessed us with during that day. On His holy days we acknowledge His sovereignty over the Universe and us by gathering before Him with grateful hearts and the first fruits of our labors.
Most importantly, we must continually conduct ourselves in a way that reflects the fact that we are “new creatures” in Messiah. As such we should never resurrect the old man because “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Rather than resurrect the former guy or girl, we must continually put the old person to death, in effect, allowing self to climb up onto the altar that our will and desire might be burned up in the “all consuming fire” that is our God. Each and every day let us work to fulfill Paul’s admonition to present ourselves as a “living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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