Unblemished Sacrifice

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 17:1-6

Key verse: “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 17:1).

There was a story about Robert Hartington of Leeds, a Cambridge graduate, who lived in a single room and cooked his own meals. Yet, he gave foreign ministries 500,000 pounds for a pioneer work of the gospel. He preferred to inconvenience himself, just for the salvation of souls. He later commented: “Gladly would I make the floor my bed, a box my chair and another box my table, rather than that man should perish for want of the knowledge of Christ.”

The consecration of this noble man of God of blessed memory summarises the expectation of God from the children of Israel and, by extension, to us, as regards worship. He expected then and now a wholesome and unalloyed sense of responsibility from His creatures in worshi p. Our worship and sacrifice should come out of grateful hearts.

It is sheer wickedness to forsake God in preference for other gods. Our sacrifice must be borne out of voluntary submission to the will and dictate of God. We should learn to take a moment to consider the frailty and brevity of life, and how our priorities reflect this truth. We must strive for a firmer understanding that anything outside the will of God will, one day, fade away. Any other “god” who receives our worship in the form of excess time, thought, energy, or resources will most surely be burnt and be swept aside. Neglect of God for earthly pursuit attracts heavy punishment. In our passage today, those who went after other gods were sentenced to death by stoning, after the confirmation of two or three witnesses.

When we refuse to accept the living God of the Bible, we become worshippers of various elements in life, such as money, worldly possessions and pleasures. God’s warning is clear and unmistakable about the fate of those who choose idol worship, who refuse to accept the established standard of His word.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Nothing less than a living sacrifice is demanded.