Wednesday, May 11: Leviticus 3- The personal investment of sacrifice.

All of these sacrifices cost: lambs, goats, herd animals represent significant expenses. Then there was your time bringing the animal to the tent of meeting (and eventually the temple). Another ‘cost’ was the sense of investment you had to make when you placed your hands on the animal as it was slaughtered.

Sacrifices cost. And sacrifices were personal… your animal, your time, your emotion.

I bounced in my thoughts today; we can do so many things virtually. We don’t have to be present to pay someone or to speak with someone. And while phone calls have some connection with tone, pacing and intonation audible, email, texting and the like carry far less depth of communication. And while phone and Internet allow us to stay connected when separated by distance, they are not the same as being there in person.

I am wondering if our ability to communicate over distance is disrupting the personal nature of a relationship with God.

On the one hand God is distant, so maybe these forms of communication aid in connecting with God who is unseen. But I am wondering if they allow me to be further removed from the Lord than my OT brethren were.

I can click a link and give to church or mission.  Am I really invested? Where is the sense that I lay my hands on the offering as it is given??

I can listen to preachers on the screen in front of me.  Am I really invested? I don’t ever have to look that person in the eye or shake their hand and respond to what they spoke about.

When was the last time I (you) personally invested in mission, in helping some brother/sister in Christ or a neighbor? When was the last time you gave a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name (Matthew 25)?

Oh, Lord, with all the wonders of the modern world, please don’t let me drift from You. Connection may look differently in my 21st century world than in the BC world of Moses, but I am praying and asking for grace to stay truly connected to You. I pray this through Jesus, my Lord. Amen.

 

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