email : Webview : Duane Brooks - Every Day with Jesus

February 28, 2018

Leviticus 22:21-22

When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord.

New International Version (NIV)

   If you want to pick out a really good Boer goat, don’t ask me or my daughter Casey (She is really good at picking steers, though). We have now chosen three goats for three consecutive years in her FFA chapter. None of them has done very well in the judging. One almost died. Another was cute, but fell short in the competition. This year I was a bit anxious as we had the fifth pick out of seventeen goats.   By the time I arrived at the selection day, Casey had already befriended a little goat who had run afoul of a dog and lost an ear. He did not look like a future Grand Champion. Eventually she picked a tiny little goat who was “cute.” We liked him a lot but he came in twelfth.

   Imagine an ancient Israelite walking through his flocks to pick the right goat for an offering to the Lord. What is good enough for God? In Leviticus, the Lord explained the kind of offering he would accept: only that which is unblemished. By the time of the end of the Old Testament, Malachi challenged the Israelites who were giving to God their worst, blemished, animals. They gave God their leftovers.

                This is still a danger for us. After we take care of everything, we give God the leftovers of our lives. Leviticus reminds us that only our best is good enough for the Lord! We are broken by our own sin. If we were lined up on an auction block, nobody would pick us. But when God chose the sacrifice for the sins of the world, he gave his very best, Jesus, his only Son to become the perfect, spotless sacrifice for our sins. Through his once and for all sacrifice, we are all made acceptable to God. Jesus’ victory becomes ours as the Father sees us through the perfect sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God.

Pray with me:

Father, examine our hearts today. Are we giving you our very best today? Show us where we shortchange you. Change our hearts so that we desire to give you our very best every time. Thank you for the unspeakable gift of your Son, the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This year we focus our Every Day with Jesus readings on Jesus’ story. With references to Tallowood's Read Through the Bible in 2018 daily reading plan, let's focus our undivided attention on Jesus and follow where he lead. He will not fail. Neither will we!
Joyfully,
Duane

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