01/06/2020
What offering should we bring to God when we enter into His presence? what offering, or sacrifice, does He require of us that would make us pure enough to approach Him? There is none... our offering has already been made for us once and for all, and all we need do is understand that fact. Don’t feel guilty about going empty handed into your prayer closet, but instead, walk into the Lord’s presence knowing that Jesus has already paid your debt. Don’t stay home from church on Sundays because you feel inadequate or undeserving because provision has already been made for you through Christ, and the Lord is waiting for your arrival.
“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:12, 14 ESV
After the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God made a new covenant with us. His covenant requires nothing from us other than our faith, belief, and love... no little bowls of rice on the alter, no scented candles, No blood, or slain lambs, and most certainly no cutting or harming ourselves... none of these things, or anything else we might think would appease God are needed... only Jesus; He has paid it all.
“"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."”
Hebrews 10:16-17 ESV
Leave your guilt behind and come to Him. Leave your concern for sins that you think are too vile, and exclude you from His love; because nothing is too ugly or abhorrent that it hasn’t been covered by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus... so just come... with a contrite heart come, and He will forgive you, and transform you.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9 ESV
We spend a great deal of time feeling guilty, and finding reasons why we shouldn’t be acceptable to God, and this serves to blind us to His grace. We come to the threshold of salvation, and then turn back towards the world because we think we are forever unworthy. Satan works to convince us that we need a worldly sacrifice, and that none is sufficient, and capable of covering us... but God has already provided for us with His own Son. All we need do is accept Him as our offering, and answer the Father’s call to come. This begins our transformation. I read a quote today that expounds on this...
“As we draw home quickly, let us grow more heavenly-minded every day; and seek the things above. The reason man is so haunted with the world, and the things of a worldly interest and concern when he comes to prayer, is because his heart is taken up too much with these things.” - Thomas Minton, (Works, I 63-65)
It is Satan’s desire to chain us to the world, but Jesus frees us to enter heaven; not after we do something, or give something, but by our faith in His sacrificial provision alone.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Romans 5:1-2 ESV
So I ask again “ What offering should we bring to God when we enter into His presence? what offering, or sacrifice, does He require of us that would make us pure enough to approach Him?”, and I answer as you should... “none... our offering has already been made for us once and for all”, and it is Jesus Christ from whom God’s grace flows. Are we ready to grasp hold of this truth, and have faith that He is enough? Are we prepared to step with Jesus into God’s presence?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, and for making Him our sacrifice, and the one complete, and everlasting offering for our sin. Help us Lord to understand that there is nothing we can do, or provide, that will perfect or purify us in your eyes other than to accept Jesus as the Lamb of God, and to have faith that He is sufficient to wash us clean. Holy Father, turn our faces away from the guilt that he who is in the world would saddle us with, and show us your mercy and grace as we enter into your presence washed once and for all in the blood of Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who has made a way for us, even while we were yet sinners, to come into your presence, and abide in you. Praised be your name for our offering... Jesus... who you ordained to be slain for us, even before the foundation of the earth, that we might find comfort in your grace, and forgiveness in your eyes. Worthy of all glory are you Holy Father, for your grace has taken the burden from us, and removed the weight of sin from us. Wonderful is Jesus Christ who gives us rest, and leads us by His purity into your presence. We worship you a Holy Father. We stand with our empty hands outstretched and accept the offering that has been made for us. We step into your home, come to your table, and by our contrition, and the cleansing of our hands by The Lamb of God, we find forgiveness, and nourishment there. All glory is yours through your Son Jesus Christ, through whom your grace flows.
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14 ESV
Rich Forbes