A Burning Sacrifice

 

“But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.” Leviticus 1:13

 

Without sacrifice, there will be no fire.  If we wish to have fire in our churches and fire in our spiritual lives, we must be a living sacrifice.  Holy fire burning inside will drive out the devil and draw the sinner.  This is not something that comes unless we are first willing to make the sacrifice.   

 

Some time ago it was my sincere desire to learn a second language.  I tracked down a Rosetta Stone.  Hyped myself up by writing down all the benefits that learning Spanish would bring to my life.  Carved out a time in my schedule and went to work learning the language.   The first week was fun, the next three not so much.  By month end I was on to something else.  I wanted to learn Spanish, but I really wanted to do a whole lot of other things besides learn Spanish.  The desire was there, but the sacrifice was not.  As a church we want a lot of things.  We want more people in our pews, we want more converts at our alters, we want more members to be committed, and a host of other things. We have more questions than answers, and in the absence of direction we settle for activity.  As Christians, in our sanctified life with Christ, the list of wants is ever changing and ever growing.  We want to reach the lost, better serve the Lord, get our children sanctified, see revival, win heaven, find contentment, comfort, peace, and if possible, pick up a few blessings from the Lord along the way.  My question to you, and to myself is.  How bad do we want it?  Yes, we want to be lights unto the world.  Yes, we want to reach others, and help others.  Yes, we want to lead folks to Christ and win souls for Jesus.  The desire is there (I believe), but what of our willingness?  Are we willing to sacrifice to get the fire burning?  How bad do we want it?  Do we want it more than our job?  Our social status? Our hard-earned reputation? Retirement plan? Do we want the holy fire, or simply the idea of holy fire?  Are we content with the idea and leave off the action?  How bad do we want it?  It’s the fire of God that people see, they gather from the corners of the cold dark world to warm themselves with God’s holy fire.  You don’t need billboards or fancy lights if the fire is there.  It’s the fire of God that melts a sinner’s heart, consumes carnality, and leaves an ever-burning flame of love towards God and.  This flame, the Holy Ghost fire, will ward off Satan’s hungry wolves.  It is not something that we can work up, nor is it something that we take credit for.  It is all God’s doing, and because it is of God (and his Christ), we must seek God's way, which is the way of sacrifice. 

 

I confess that my sincere feeling is that I know less about the language of sacrifice than I do Spanish.  My only hope is the same as others, to look at scripture and follow the instructions.  Follow the examples of sacrifice.  They are always packaged in faith.  To quote an elder in our church who knew a lot about sacrifice.  “When you pray, and when I pray; take the lid off of our prayers and tell the Lord: I will go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do, and say what you want me to say.”  Lord willing, he will help us to understand the language of sacrifice, and when we do, if we place our sacrifice on the altar in faith; the fire will come.  If you want there to be fire on the altar, there must be a sacrifice.