| Editorial What does it cost you | by A. Wood | |||||
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But King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing."(1 Chronicles 21:24) When Christ died on the cross, He offered up a sacrifice once and for all time for our sins. However, that does not mean that we shouldn't make sacrifices anymore only that we don't need to. What do I mean? Well if we went back the Old Testament and looked in the early chapters of Leviticus we would see that there were 5 main kinds of offerings, burnt, meat, peace, sin, trespass. The last two, sin and trespass, had to be offered as a result of sins and trespasses. However, the other three were voluntary offerings, a way of giving thanks to God for what He had done. In our verse above, when David wanted to offer a burnt offering, he insisted on paying full price, after all it would not be a sacrifice if it had not cost him anything. I wonder what does our Christian life cost us? Do we have to make sacrifices, perhaps having to get up earlier to read our Bibles, not go places we used to go, not do things we want to do, perhaps that nice Sunday lie in is ruined by the morning meeting. Yet these and others, are sacrifices we should enjoy making for in doing so we are offering a free will sacrifice to God in return for what He has done for us. Can I leave you with Romans 12v1&2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Asking you a final question, have you offered your life back to God as a living sacrifice for His glory? Ready and willing to do His Will, whether it be to go out on the mission field, or just to spend that extra time studying His Word. Please send any questions or comments you have on this article to a.wood@assemblyyouth.net
All quotes are from the English Standard version of the Bible unless otherwise specified. | ||||||
I am's of Jesus Christ