Coming on Our Knees
Hello, friends!
I am so excited to announce that today’s Motivational Monday post is brought to you by bloggy-friend Rhiannon from RhiannonSkeen.com! It’s always fun to connect with other bloggers and share with one another’s followers. For those of us in the world of “Christian blogging”, we welcome all opportunities to bless others and broaden our outreach. I know you will be blessed by Rhiannon’s words today!
Coming on Our Knees
Sacrifices
The offerings required of the Israelite’s were sacred. Each act had a meaning. Each drop of blood was accounted for. The type of death the animal was to die was intentional. The way the grains were to be prepared was specific. God left nothing to chance for the people. He was specific and they were to follow his instructions exactly. In the following passages from Leviticus 6 we can see that everything was precise for the people.
(13) “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”
(23) “Every grain offering of a priest shall be burned completely; it must not be eaten.”
(25) “The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy.”
Those are just a few examples of what the requirements were for the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the sin offering.
The Israelite’s and the Priests had a lot of steps and rules they had to follow in order for their sacrifice to be considered pleasing unto the Lord. The thing about all of this, though, they still did it. They still brought what was required. The Priests still sprinkled the blood just right, or burnt the offering, or prepared the grain in a specified way. There was no requirement that was too tedious for the people or the Priests.
Sadly, that is not really the case today.
It is so different today because of Jesus. He laid his life down to be the lasting sacrifice, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, and yet we still feel inconvenienced by what he asks of us. Is what he asks of us really too much to give?
Coming to Him
When we think of what Jesus asks of us today what do we picture? What comes to mind? Looking in the New Testament we find the answer to the requests of our Savior.
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39
God asks us to love him completely and to love others. Out of this love flows obedience, sacrifice, and service. We so often feel like God is asking too much of us when he says to love freely, but when we look back at all the Israelite people had to do is he really asking too much or are we just too stingy?
When we come to God on our knees with our sacrificial worship our life changes. He becomes first, we become second and we learn how to love like Jesus did.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for us, can we make the ultimate sacrifice for him and come to him wholeheartedly?
Laying it Down
Looking at the above verses and the commands of Jesus we can think that seems lofty or that seems easy, but there’s a key to this that we can’t miss. Surrender.
When we walk in a life of surrender we are constantly walking out a life laid down. The beautiful thing about a life laid down is that we are not focused on self or even what’s happening in our surroundings, we are focused on Christ. Our eyes fixed on Him, our hearts bowed low, our lives laid down.
As we set out to come wholeheartedly to our Savior let’s ask Him to teach us how to come and lay our lives down. His sacrifice frees us to surrender but it is our choice. When we choose Him we are never left unsatisfied. Coming to Him on our knees fills us with power to impact communities and change lives everywhere we go.
How are you coming to God? Do you see similarities in the sacrifices required in chapter 6 of Leviticus and Jesus? How can we come to God even when we are caught up in life around us?
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Rhiannon is a mom, wife, blogger, designer, vlogger and coffee addict that can be found at RhiannonSkeen.com . That is her corner of the inter-webs where she shares her heart about life and loving Jesus. She is also a contributing writer for “Good News Magazine” & “The Family Roadmap” blog.
Connect with Rhiannon:
Twitter- https://twitter.com/rhiannonrskeen
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/reaster2
Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyX-rS-Eg6HXG7bwZziJDcA
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/rhiannonskeen/
Pinterest- https://www.pinterest.com/rhiannonrskeen/
Thank you so much, Rhiannon!
Bio and links:
Rhiannon is a mom, wife, blogger, designer, vlogger and coffee addict that can be found at http://rhiannonskeen.com . That is her corner of the inter-webs where she shares her heart about life and loving Jesus. She is also a contributing writer for “Good News Magazine” & “The Family Roadmap” blog.
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