An Acceptable Sacrifice

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Romans 12:1 NKJV

“Mom, did you sign my permission slip so I can go on the field trip to the dinosaur exhibit tomorrow?”

“I told you before you went out to play to put the permission slip on the counter,” Kayla’s mother replied.

“Oh no, I hope I didn’t lose it.  Are you sure you didn’t see it or move it from the counter?” Kayla asked interrogating her mother.

“I’m sorry, Kayla.  You never left it for me to sign.” 

Kayla was starting to get upset because she couldn’t find her permission slip.  Her mother thought if she helped Kayla retraced her steps; it might help her remember where she left it.    

“Do you remember the last time you saw it?” her mother asked.  “Did you check your room?  What about your pockets?  Could you have put it in your pocket?” She continued. 

“That’s it!  I put it in my pocket.”  Kayla shoved her hand in her pocket and felt around for the piece of paper.  “I found it,” she rejoiced pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of her back pocket.  “Here it is right here.”

Her mother laughed to herself as she watched Kayla attempt to press the wrinkles out of the permission slip with the side of her hand.

“And mom, my teacher asked that all the kids in the class bring something so we could have a group lunch.  I’m supposed to bring dinosaur shaped cookies. “

“Kayla, why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?  I could have gotten the ingredients I needed when we were at the store.”

“I’m sorry.  I guess I forgot about the cookies.”

And just like you forgot about the permission slip.  Kayla, you are going to have to be more mindful of the things that are important not just to you but to others around you.  If you don’t, you are going to miss out on a lot more than just dinosaur shaped cookies.

“So you’re not going to bake the cookies I need for class?”

“No, I’m not.  If there’s time, we can stop by the store in the morning on the way to school and pick up one or two packages of cookies.”

“But Mom, they won’t be in the shape of a dinosaur.”   

“I’m sorry, but it is too late to try to bake homemade cookies now.  You’ll just have to explain to your teacher, Mrs. Hurdle, what happened.”

“But mom…”

“Kayla, not another word!  Now go upstairs and get ready for bed.  I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kayla replied, and then marched upstairs.

Kayla brushed her teeth, took her bath, and put on her pajamas.   When her mother came to her room, Kayla was saying her prayers.  After a few minutes of silence, Kayla peeped through one eye and saw her mother standing in the doorway. 

“Are you finished?” her mother asked. 

“I think so.  I can’t think of anything else to say to God,” Kayla replied. 

“Then hop into bed, young lady, so you can get a good night’s rest.  You have a busy day tomorrow.” 

Kayla scurried off the floor and jumped into bed. 

“I love you, sweetheart.” 

“Mom, I’m sorry about the permission slip…and the cookies.  I’m sure Mrs. Hurdle won’t mind what kind of cookies I bring, just as long as I bring cookies.”

The two shared in the laughter.  Then her mother kissed her goodnight and turned out the lamp by Kayla’s bed.  As soon as her mother had snuggled under the covers in her room, Kayla screamed, “Mommy, Mommy!”   She hurried to Kayla’s room, her heart was racing.  When she got there, the lamp was on and Kayla was sitting up in her bed.  Her eyes filled with tears. 

“What’s the matter honey, did you have a bad dream?” her mother asked.

Kayla was staring out as if she had seen a ghost.  Her mother came near when Kayla reached out her arms. 

“It’s okay, mommy’s here,”  she said as she sat on the bed.  Her mother tried her best to console her, but the more her she held her close, the more Kayla sobbed. 

“Tell mommy what’s wrong,”  her mother said as she looked into her daughter’s eyes.

“I forgot to tell God I love him.” 

“Oh sweetie, it’s okay.” 

“No, it’s not.  I missed it.”

“Missed it?”  Her mother echoed her words.  “What did you miss?”

“God.  When I said my prayers, he was here but now it’s somebody else’s turn to talk to him.  He won’t be back until tomorrow; but I want God to know today that I love Him.  Oh mommy, ask God to come back.  Please, ask him to come back.” 

Her mother just held her in her arms trying to hush Kayla’s cry.  When Kayla calmed down, her mother took the time to explain to her how God is always with her, and any time she wanted to talk to God she could.    

“So you mean if I still want to tell God that I love him, I can? I can tell him I love him any time I want?  As often as I want?” a squeaky voiced Kayla asked.

“Absolutely,” her mother reassured her. 

Kayla tossed the covers to the side, slid out of her comfy bed and kneeled down to pray. 

“God, it’s me Kayla.  I forgot to tell you something earlier,” she paused as if she were waiting for God to respond.  “I love you,” she said smiling.  She looked up at her mother.  “Do you think God received my love?” she asked. 

“Oh Kayla, your love was an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.”

The Reconciliation Power of Prayer

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:20 NKJV

Have you ever had a bad experience in a place of business like a restaurant where your server just wasn’t up to par on her customer service skills?  Perhaps she was having a bad day or a rough life, either way you bore the brunt of her discontentment.  One sarcastic stare too many and her lack of urgency to bring you the condiment you requested twice before warrants your demand to speak to the manager.  Even at the threat of being reported for her poor customer service, the waitress maintains a “whatever” attitude and moseys off to get her boss.  By now, you are a boiling inferno hotter than the sizzling fajitas being delivered to the man seated at the table beside you.  Your rage has overridden your hungry pangs and all you can chew on are the not so kind words about your waitress that are swirling around in your mouth. 

As you see the manager nearing, your mind starts racing with ideas on how you should voice your complaint.  He comes to your table, smiles a bit, and then extends his hand as he introduces himself.  Before he could finish his question, “How was everything tonight?” you explode and tell him everything holding nothing back.    You even make the suggestion that perhaps the waitress should find another line of work where she didn’t have to deal with the public.  The manager patiently listens to your grievance and then offers his apologies on behalf of the waitress and himself.  He even takes matters one step further by giving you your meal “on the house” to compensate you for the inconvenience.  Minutes later a different waitress comes to you to see if you need anything else.  You thank her for the offer and before she tries to present you with the bill, you proudly announce that your meal is “complimentary”.  She smiles and bids you a good evening.

As you get closer to the exit, you just happen to glance over and see a girl laboring to clean the area left in total disarray by a large group who apparently had a dinner party at the restaurant.  Before you leave out of the restaurant, the young lady turns sideways and you get a better look at her; she was your waitress.  You assume that her having to clean up was the punishment given for the unacceptable service she provided.  You smile.  You feel good knowing that justice was served.

That night, the waitress climbs in her bed tired and worn from the emptiness in her life, while both the customer and the manager bow their knees to pray to God.  Based on the above scenario, how do you suppose they prayed?

When we make our prayer and supplication to God, do we approach His throne with the anger of the customer or the compassion of the manager?  According to 2 Corinthians 5:18, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation through Christ Jesus.  To reconcile means “to reestablish a close relationship between.”[i]   When we pray for others and for our nation, we take the responsibility of repenting for the sins that “we” have committed against God and in doing so, we reestablish a close relationship between God and mankind. 

For further reading, see Deuteronomy 9:14-29; Daniel 9; and Acts 7:54-60. 

---

[i]Reconcile.   www.thefreedictionary.com

From Golgotha's Hill

There is little to no argument that we are living in times of great peril.  After watching a few minutes of the local news full of homicides, rapes, and burglaries, people sit paralyzed behind locked doors and drawn curtains.  There is a war going on, but it is spiritual.  Those enlisted in God’s army can not hide behind a fleshly armor and refuse to go anywhere or help anyone out of fear that they will become the next victim. 

While some believers of the faith, who are convinced that every destructive act of nature happening in the world is God’s judgment, do nothing but shout, “Revelations…This is the end times”, others are gathering their chicks like a mother hen to make sure that their own will be saved.  But what about those who are widowed, orphaned, poor, oppressed, and still bound in fetters and chains?  What will become of them?

From the beginning God has planned to do good towards His people.  Throughout the history of man’s existence, God has called and equipped prophets to see, speak, and hear His divine plan for those who would believe in the coming Savior.  But the constant struggle between good and evil has wearied our faith.  When we see people living recklessly not wanting a better life, we resolve they are not worth fighting for and impetuously deem their soul a lost cause.  But God has not changed His mind about His people possessing the promise land. 

The places where many people dwell in, is a far cry from the land flowing with milk and honey, which God showed Moses from atop of Mount Nebo.  Instead of the emergence of this sweet combination, the land is flooded with unkempt men with red eyes, unshaven beards and crooked, toothless grins, who prop themselves up on every five and dime store in run-down neighborhoods.  It’s a place where men on bicycles not built for two carry three, spewing profanity and vulgarity as if it were their first language; and a short skirted woman in high heels pace the street corners working a nine to five from five until the rent is paid and she has enough money to feed her starving children.

Whose dry bones did Ezekiel prophesy to in the valley?  Consider the barefooted infants with uncombed hair and grimy faces who stagger in droopy diapers along cracked sidewalks; or the next generation blind to their identity, who aimlessly walk the streets trashing the already filled ditches of empty beer bottles with their chili stained 7-Eleven Big-Bite wrappers; or the sedated, silver haired legacies who are not only sentenced to sit on recliners pushed onto front porches in solitude, but silenced because no one believes they still have dreams. 

When Martin Luther King stood on a hillside and gave his unforgettable “I Have A Dream” speech, he impacted a world and brought people together for the common cause of equality.  Is it impartiality when we see black men and white men stripped and junked like discarded cars in the high grasslands of empty lots behind paint chipped buildings with rusty water streaks from corroded lead pipes?  Or when the cries and movements of innocent babies of all races are deliberately stilled before they are born? 

What do you suppose Christ saw from the hill of Golgotha where He yielded Himself to the horrific crucifixion on the cross?  He saw the way to redeem the unsaved souls of man from the empty graves waiting to be filled.  God has a remnant in the earth that He has not forgotten or abandoned; but it will take us dressed in our full spiritual armor, positioned in prayer for God’s will to be done on the earth as it is in heaven.