Numbers 28 contains God’s instructions to the people through Moses about how to sacrifice again. This was started back at Mount Sinai a long time ago, and now is being updated and refocused. The details are deep, the times very specific, and the way it was to be done exact. God has a very straightforward plan for how His people were to connect through sacrifice. There are many different types of offerings described here. They all serve a different purpose, but bottom line they are about getting right with the Father. And the chapter ends with this: “remember, the animals must be healthy”. How sad that even then God had to remind the people that this was not the place to give the leftovers or the unhealthy things.
But as I look at the lives of many today, that is exactly what God gets. He gets the leftovers. He gets our left over time – which frankly doesn’t amount to much. We struggle to take time to spend with Him one on one because we are too busy. We miss a daily quiet time because of the chaos we allow to rule our lives. He gets little or any of our time in loving and serving others because the schedule just doesn’t allow it. Our calendars are filled with activities that are usually focused on me, myself and I and seldom leave margin to allow us to love people, which is what God cares about. Sure He loves me, but not only me! And His command to me is to love Him and love others. The focus there is not about me. God also seems to get the leftover money, rather than the first 10% of our income. Isn’t that how it goes. If we are short, the easy place to take it back is from our church giving. No one will send us an overdue bill for that. God’s desire is for our finances to be under control as well so He not only receives His tithe, but we are able to use the margin in our money to give offerings over and above that as well as He leads. That doesn’t happen when my focus is on me, myself and I either. I spend every last cent on stuff that doesn’t matter that takes up space and collects dust and will burn up someday. God desires our hearts to be focused on the right things here – putting Him first in our lives and realizing that all we have – time, money, relationships – it all belongs to Him. We need to get it right. How are you doing in making sure your relationship with God is “healthy”?
