I mentioned in an earlier post that our family discusses one particular verse each night. I simply have subscribed to "the verse of the day" from Crossway. Today's verse is Hebrews 13:15 which says..
Hebrews 13:15
Through him (Jesus) then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (my parenthesis of Jesus)
In the Old Testament testimony, Gods people were required to bring many different kinds of sacrifices to the temple. There was the wave offering, the grain offering, the thanksgiving offering, the sin offering; but these were shadows that were to point to the One casting the shadow; namely Jesus Christ.
2000 or so years ago the One casting the shadow came. And once the One whom all the sacrifices pointed to came, so did the end of them. God brought judgement on His people when he destroyed their temple in 70 AD. With that judgement, the sacrificial system ended as well. But God does still require sacrifices. But they are not the ones that happen with a bloodied knife, or a basket of grain. Nor is this new sacrifice merely one or two times a year. In one sense, the sacrifice is harder because it is continual, but in another sense it is much easier.
The sacrifice God requires of us is a thankful heart, and open lips that continually are giving praise and thanks to God, through his sacrifice for us; Jesus Christ. I have found that this sacrifice from us of thankful lips becomes harder when we spend less time thinking of the gift God has given us in Jesus. The more we remind ourselves of the gospel, the easier the sacrifice becomes. And if we do not spend anytime thinking through these great truths, we will not spend much time praising the One whom all praise and thanks is due.
Every day should be Thanksgiving to the Christian.
No comments:
Post a Comment