'Sacrifice' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” vss. 23-24 Amos 5:21-24 During Israel’s golden age, the time of its greatest prosperity, Amos came out of the wilderness of Judah with a message from the Lord. To put it bluntly, there was nothing that the people were doing that was pleasing. They were cheating the poor,…
Daily Devotions
Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear…” vss. 18-19a Amos 5:18-20 When Amos came out of the south and into the prosperous north with a word from the Lord, he wasn’t going to a people who were unfamiliar with the traditions of Israel. There were religious leaders and active worship…
Daily Devotions
When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.” vss. 3-4 Matthew 20:1-7 The disciples had made significant sacrifices when they decided to follow Jesus and there came a time when they wondered if their commitment had been worth it. Jesus does his best to assure them that they were on the…
Daily Devotions
As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.” vs. 13 Psalm 103:11-13 Even though God is beyond description and it’s really impossible for our puny minds to understand or comprehend the Divine Presence, we still have a need to use words in our conversation about God. As a result, humans have always used metaphors to try to communicate that which we sense is true about God. We lift them from…
Daily Devotions
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” vs. 24 Matthew 16:24-28 It must have appeared to the disciples that Jesus had performed a classic “bait and switch” on them. They had begun to follow him because they believed him to be the messiah, the one who would restore Israel to its former glory. As his initial followers then, they seem to have felt…
Daily Devotions
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” vs. 1 Romans 12:1-2 When Paul was making his own decisions about life he used his personality and his learning to launch a crusade against Jews who believed that Jesus was the messiah. After he was confronted by the living Christ everything changed. Moved by the gospel of grace,…
Daily Devotions
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” vs. 6 Hosea 6:4-6 Somehow the people of Israel and Judah had managed to get the Lord’s message all screwed up during their time of prosperity. Their forefathers had developed a sacrificial system that provided times for pilgrimages and offerings. It was a way of giving thanks and praise to the Lord while also atoning for sin. But through the years it had become…
Daily Devotions
You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.” vss. 18-19 1 Peter 1:17-20 It’s no accident that the liturgies of many congregations contain references to Jesus as the Lamb of God. After all, that’s the language of scripture. Sacrifice was at the heart of Jewish temple worship, and it was…
Daily Devotions
Good Friday When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” vs. 19:30 John 18:1-19:42 The writer of the Gospel of John represents the death of Jesus, not as a sacrifice for sin, but as the moment of his glorification. This was the point toward which his entire ministry had been heading, and now that he had arrived, he simply says, “It is finished,” bows his head and…
Daily Devotions
Ash Wednesday Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” vs. 1 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 For some believers, the season of Lent is a time for serious reflection on faith and its implications for daily living. They cherish the opportunity to retreat from some of their usual distracting activities by adopting one or more disciplines. Often thought of as “giving something up for…
Daily Devotions
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.” vss. 12-13 Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 The people of Israel were facing an invasion, not of armies, but of a horde of locusts. Joel likely knew this wasn’t the first time–the devastation wreaked by the regular migratory cloud of insects had been seen before, but he knew the country was facing a crisis. There…
Daily Devotions
You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” vs. 56 Luke 12:54-56 Jesus had such contempt for the people of his day. They could predict rain and scorching heat by watching the wind directions, but they failed to see what was coming to pass in the present. We wonder what he might say to us. We have made incredible advancements in science and…