Can you believe it, we have come 1/3 of the way through Psalms? A quick note before we begin, the week between Christmas and New Years, specifically Dec 26-30, there will be no posts, we will be visiting family and doing fun family things so consider that week a vacation week. But that still leaves two more weeks of posts until then, so stick around and come back after on January 2 2017 to roll right on through to 150.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled devotion.
Psalm 50
I like you, I really do. And this year for Christmas I wanted to get you something really special, something I knew you'd like and appreciate. I thought long and hard about it and decided to get you, your car. I know you love it, you drive it everywhere, I hope you like it. What? You don't? Well, okay then, I'll get you your house, that's even better, I sure am thoughtful. What? While you like your house you think that it's not mine to give? Ok, I guess I see your point, but come on, I tried really hard, shouldn't you be appreciative?
That previous paragraph is rather ridiculous, I know, but think about it for a second and you'll understand that it is a pretty good example of how people who sacrifice things to God act. We are very generous with our sacrifice as long as it's things that aren't really ours to give in the first place. You see, we have this illusion of ownership, this illusion that possession is nine-tenths of the law, but in a very real way It. Is. All. God's. To. Begin. With.
The land doesn't become ours because of the piece of paper. We are not owners of the air or water. We don't even truly own our bodies, we were molded, formed, created by another. But, what we can give to God is ourselves, our attitudes, our actions. Of course, the only way we can do that is because God gives us a the freewill to go our own way, and what God desires above all else is that with that freewill we would choose God. Here, in Psalm 50, God requires a sacrifice of thanksgiving, in Micah it is one of mercy justice and humility, but it is not about giving to God by way of the woodpile and fire, it is giving to God by way of our lives, in the words of Paul, as living sacrifices.
+ In what ways have you attempted to sacrifice to God what was already God's?
+ How can you live your life in such a way as to become a living sacrifice?
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