October 28th

Leviticus 1:1-3:17, Mark 9:33-10:12, Psalm 27:1-6

I’ll be honest, I’m finding some of this Old Testament stuff quite hard.  It isn’t the most scintillating reading as we go through all the measurements of the tabernacle and now into all the different kinds of offering that the people can make. It’s going to be like this throughout Leviticus but the thing is, when something's rock hard, like reading bit’s of Leviticus, it is also a firm foundation. It’ll be tough going but there is going to be some really solid stuff in there that we can build on.

All of the yawning today was put in context by the Psalm which has to contain one of my favourite verses.

“One thing I ask of the LORD,
       this is what I seek:
       that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
       all the days of my life,
       to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
       and to seek him in his temple.”

If God Were to ask what you wanted, gene style, would you give him a wish list that looks like the prize list from the Gadget Show, with a couple of big extras added in? Do you ask that you never have to go to school or work again? Or do you just say, “I want to live with you forever, oh yeah, and gaze into your eyes whenever I like”? Ever fancied someone, or even loved them, that much that you just want to stare at their beauty forever, well this is what the Psalmist is talking about.

Remember back to James and John and Mrs Zebedee trying to get them top spots in heaven. Well the disciples are at it again. But Jesus says “forget it”, put yourself last, put the most vulnerable first, and then we’ll start talking about heaven and who deserves what.

So in the context of all of this, Leviticus takes on new meaning, offerings are important but what God really wants is for us to put others first and to love him more than anything else. When we love God enough that all we want in life is to live in his tabernacle and stare at him forever, then we start to see the face of God in others, putting them first and making an offering that is really pleasing to the Lord.