So I have been meaning to blog about this for a while, but I never got around to it. On November 8, 2012, I read through my last unread pages of the Bible. It happened to be the last chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi. I am in no way praising myself for this, but instead look at it as how far I have come and how much God has done in my life. I am in no way, shape, or form the same person I was last year. With that said, reading Malachi was a fitting way to finish the Bible (Not forever of course! Now it's all about rereading, studying, and truly soaking in the Word). A passage in Malachi 1 really stood out to me.
The heading in my Bible for this passage reads as this, Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices. At first glance it may seem only relevant in the old covenant, which makes sense because we no longer sacrifice animals, thanks to Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice. It is about a man offering a blemished sacrifice to the LORD instead of a perfect one. He took it as a burden on himself and his life to give up his best animals for GOD and instead gave him the lame and unwanted. Still not making the connection? Well here it is.
We do the exact same thing. Although we no longer must sacrifice animals to GOD, we must still make sacrifices. We must relinquish certain things, and it can be difficult because the world teaches us the opposite. The world teaches us to collect things for ourselves. We must fight that urge. We must fight the world and give EVERYTHING back to GOD. We must die to ourselves and live for GOD. Two of the largest and toughest ways to do that are through our TIME and MONEY. These are two things we cherish, but we must give them up. We must trust God with them. People often times don't give their best to GOD. We selfishly take things for ourselves and give the leftovers to GOD, whether it be this example with sacrifices, our time, our money, etc. GOD doesn't need anything we can give Him. If we think that giving Him our leftovers pleases Him, we are sadly mistaken. GOD wants and needs to be a priority, not an afterthought. By giving Him the leftovers, we are saying that other things are more important than GOD.
That is something I have struggled with, and I know y'all have too. Often times I will skip quiet time and put it off for later that night. When I do that, often times I don't end up doing it at all. The worst part is that often times I'll skip it just to sit in the living room and watch TV with my fellow Bucks (I live in the Buck Lodge, which is our house name). Instead of making GOD a priority at that time, I put other things ahead of Him and give Him my leftover time at the end of the day. I've gotten better at this, but it is still a problem.
The other major sacrifice is money. Now I don't have a job, so it's tough for me to tithe, but I have felt a major change in heart since last year. I am excited for the day to tithe and freely give back to GOD what GOD has given me. We must first give to GOD. It shouldn't just be something we do just out duty, although it may start that way. We shouldn't just give our ten percent and be done. We must give as GOD calls us to give. Sometimes that may be more than just our tithe. It MUST be our priority. GOD MUST be our priority. It's not something that we do after we pay all the bills and buy a few things for ourselves, and if we have some extra, we give. It should be the first thing out of our paychecks every week or however often we get paid.
Now bringing it all back to what started this post, reading the Bible. Yes I finished reading through the entire Bible. That is something I never imagined. Guys in my core group spoke of such last year, and I thought that was impossible. It took me eleven months of pure focus and dedication. That is something that didn't come naturally. Sometimes it was easier than others. The Bible is literally one of only a handful of books that I have ever read through completely on my own time in my entire life. Even now the list is only about ten. This includes fiction and whatever kind of books people read. I am NOT a reader. It does NOT come naturally for me. Through GOD ALL things are possible though. If I can do it, so can you, so I challenge you to pick up a Bible and start reading. Start with just one chapter at a time and build up from there. You can't build a house in just one day. You must lay one brick at a time, starting with a solid foundation and moving up.
I personally guarantee that if you will make GOD your priority and not just give Him your leftovers, nothing will be able to hold you back, and your life will forever be changed.
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