Today's Passage: Leviticus 23-24
These two chapters are all about the importance of honoring God. They explain many of the festivals that we will see observed throughout the Old Testament and the gospels, such as Passover and the Day of Atonement. It is very obvious that God takes this worship seriously...especially in the story of the one stoned to death for calling a curse on the name of the Lord!
I want to focus our time today on the two actions that we still practice as the New Testament church. The first is the sabbath day...a day Leviticus 23:3 calls "a day of sacred assembly." We have to understand how hard it was for the people of the days of Moses just to live. They were wandering in the desert with no home...and after seeing this desert with my own eyes a few months ago, I wondered aloud how they could survive at all! It is a difficult place even when you are with a tour group and in an air-conditioned bus. They had to work very hard just to get by. But God wanted them to stop once each week and remember the One who had been providing for them in their work. He wanted them to take a break from the labors of the world to remember the One who gives life. They were to come together and worship the One who makes everything possible.
The other action was the giving of firstfruits. Can you imagine trying to raise food for your family in the desert? Then, after all that work, you were to offer the first of the harvest to God? Leviticus 23:14 says they could not bake any bread or roast any grain to eat until this was done first...that remembering the one who provides the seed, the soil, the water and the sun always comes first.
You may feel like you have to work around the clock just to get by. You may feel like every bit you make needs to go toward the mounting economic pressures in the home. You may feel just like these people did in the desert. But God wants your attention...He wants you to remember the one who makes all things possible. That's why we come together in a sacred assembly on Sundays...it's why we offer our tithe to God before even thinking about using that money to cover other things. We still are asked to honor God with our time and treasures no matter what the circumstances.
Are you honoring God with your attendance on the sabbath day? Are you honoring Him with your first fruits? He's worthy of all honor!
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