Someone recently asked me, “Are altar sacrifices still expected of Christ-followers today?”
The answer is yes, but in a different form than biblical times: sacrificial giving.
A little digging revealed King David’s insight while seeking a suitable place to build an altar to ask Jehovah’s forgiveness via an animal sacrifice for a rotten sin David had committed (aren’t we glad that because of Jesus’ blood sacrifice on the cross we don’t have to do that anymore?).
David inquired about a certain piece of real estate. The submissive owner offered the land to his king for FREE, and wood and oxen (to sacrifice) too.
King David wisely replied: “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD or offer a sacrifice which costs me nothing,” (1 Chronicles 21:24).
Note: If it costs you nothing, it isn’t a real sacrifice. It’s worthless. It means zilch.
I let those sobering thoughts percolate. Maybe my own sacrificial giving is too easy. Most of the things I do for the Lord cost me nothing. I do them because I like doing them. I turn down things that I don’t like doing because they’re too time-consuming, difficult or energy-draining.
They cost me too much.
Then a friend asked if I would spend the afternoon with her live-in 91-year-old mom while she worked. Now, this may not sound like a sacrifice to you, but because of my chronic nighttime insomnia and afternoon naps being necessary to keep (barely) functioning, it’s a big deal to me. Skipping my nap would mean a blossoming migraine and terminal irritability.
Yikes. My sacrifice was trying to crawl off the altar. I felt the Holy Spirit’s elbow jab: It’s not a sacrifice if it costs you nothing, Deb.
So, I went granny-sitting. And the Almighty blessed my socks off with a wonderful afternoon of fellowship with the perkiest and godliest sweetly ripened gal ever.
I guess my sacrificial parameters aren’t set in stone after all. And that’s a good thing, because Papa God is pleased when we don’t allow our living sacrifices to crawl off the altar.
“Do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased,”(Hebrews 13:16 NASB).
