God Loves the Fat

As a child, I was taught to give God my best. We wore our “Sunday clothes” to church, made sure our hair was clean and shiny, and polished our shoes on Saturday night so they would sparkle on Sunday. All six of us children were given money for Sunday School, at least until we started helping Daddy with a job, then we took tithe off our meager earnings. We were taught to honor God with our best.

The hymn “Give of Your Best to the Master” by Mrs. Charles Barnard sums up my understanding that God wants and deserves my best. The third verse begins with “Give of your best to the Master, naught else is worthy His love. He gave Himself for your ransom, . . ..”

Jesus gave His all for me. He is certainly worthy of my best in return. Furthermore, God commanded that sacrificial animals be spotless. Without blemish. The best.

As a child, I learned to only give my best to my Lord.

And then I learned the rest of the story.

While reading the laws about sacrifices, have you noticed that God never asked for T-bones or filet mignons? He didn’t even ask for hamburger. Instead, he asked for the fat.

In Leviticus 4, when instructing the priest about how to atone for their sin (v. 3), God told His priests to take a young bull without blemish, and “he shall take from it all the fat of the bull as a sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and the fat which is on the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove . . .; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering” (Lev. 4:8-10).

The fat! Why fat? And why entrails, kidneys, and liver? Furthermore, why would He specifically want the fat around them?

After all, the entrails (intestines) handle our wastes, making them the least desirable organ. A primary duty for both the liver and kidneys is to filter wastes and toxins from the body.

The intestines, liver, and kidneys don’t fit my general definition as desirable, much less the “best” part of the body. But God also asked for the fat that’s around them. Unlike the kidneys and liver, fat doesn’t filter toxins—but it does store them so they don’t roam freely throughout the body, creating disaster.

As I type, a line from a hymn keeps playing in my mind, “Give of your best to the Master.” The best? The fat, entrails, kidneys, and liver of the sacrificial animal? The toxins? Is that our best?

There seems to be a disconnect, until you realize the Old Testament gives a foreshadowing of the New. When we surrender to Jesus, giving our lives to Him, we bring our toxins, the things that make us sick and that separate us from Him. In other words, our sin. When we offer our toxins to Jesus, He cleanses and makes us new.

God not only receives such offerings in place of the choice cuts of meat, but He calls them “an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Lev. 3:5, 16). A sweet aroma? Our toxins are sweet to Him, because sin separates. We cannot enjoy close fellowship with Him when we are hoarding toxins.

If we hang onto our toxins as we give God our best (and think highly of ourselves for doing so!), we’re rejecting His salvation and sweet fellowship.

If we want a victorious life of joy, peace, and grace, we need to be open with God about our transgressions and shortcomings. He is waiting for our fat.

If God loves our fat, does that mean He doesn’t want our best? What about the Sunday clothes and shiny shoes? Does our outward presentation matter to Him? What about our serving?

The closing lines of “Give of Your Best to the Master” give answer to that question. They say, “Give Him your heart’s adoration. Give Him the best that you have.”

Our best is our heart. If we adore Him, if He has our heart, we won’t withhold anything from Him. We’ll offer up our sins and weaknesses gladly out of our love for the Lord.

One way of expressing love is to look your best for the one you love, and that choice can grow out of love. The motivation can be to glorify the Lord. In that case, I feel sure He is pleased.

However, He is most concerned about the heart. A more sure sign of our love for the Lord is obedience. Our best effort at giving our “best”–whether that be Sunday clothes or singing in the choir–is of naught if it is not accompanied by obedience.

However, as we look at God’s love for fat, the greatest indicator of our love for Him might be our willingness to offer up to Him all of our fat. It could involve being totally transparent concerning our sins and shortcomings, keeping nothing from Him. After all, only then can we truly enjoy fellowship with Him.

I believe that’s why God loves the fat, and that it is a sweet-smelling aroma to Him. When we surrender our fat to Him, we can draw near to His heart, with nothing interfering. Then our other efforts at giving our best will also be acceptable to Him.

Clean out Clutter to Commune with God

I’m late posting my blog today because I had another priority. The burn pile needed to be dealt with in the cool of the day. Consequently, I spent my morning picking up sticks and burning a big pile that’s accumulated for months.

A spring of frequent high winds has repeatedly littered the yard with limbs, leading to a growing burn pile that couldn’t be burned because of strong winds and frequent rains. The pile is toward the back of the yard and not easily visible from the road, but I knew it was there, cluttering the yard.

This morning, the ground and grass were wet from recent rains, the wind weren’t blowing, and the morning temperature was comfortable. It was the perfect time to build a big bonfire without fear of starting a forest fire.

I’m grateful to clean up the yard and get rid of the trash. I’m also blessed with how the task fits in with and are altering my blog.

Last week, I wrote about the nature of the relationship the Lord desires to have with us, one of intimacy and communion, of sharing time and life on a daily basis. He promised His all to us* and gave His life to make such intimacy possible. (*Learn more about that promise/covenant and the nature of the relationship in The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood.)

Many people desire that kind of relationship, but don’t know how to make it happen. As I cleared the yard of any remaining sticks and burned them all, I was aware that limbs and sticks don’t belong on the lawn.

Knowing the pile from the last few months was hidden in the corner of the yard blocked my full enjoyment of the rest of the yard. I was affected by it even though I knew others didn’t see it.

As I picked up the more recent limbs from the grass, I saw an anology of our relationship with the Lord.

We may know the Lord, love Him, and desire an intimate relationship with the Lord, but just can’t seem to get there, as if something it blocking it—just as limbs cluttered on the ground or the pile in the back block my full enjoyment of the yard.

Indeed, it’s no surprise that sin blocks communion with the Lord. It doesn’t matter whether the sin is big and lying by the road for all to see, or if it’s small and part of a pile back in a corner where nobody will know it’s there, sin blocks clear relationships.

The problem is that we become comfortable with some sins and are blind to it. We can embrace sin without realizing it. I’d like to mention just a few basic sins that can keep us from having an intimate relationship with the Lord.

Pride

Pride, such as thinking, “I’m the greatest” and “look what I can do,” focuses on self and blocks any relationship. It harms our fellowship with God because it fails to acknowledge God and show gratefulness for His part in making us who we are

It’s also prideful to say, “I’m no good,” or “I can’t do anything right.” That attitude, just like the one above, sees Self as the focus and the source, with no acknowledgment of God.

Likewise,it is prideful to consistently want things “my” way or to refuse to listen to those “I” don’t agree with. Jesus said to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23). When we elevate ourselves or focus on our Self, rather than denying ourselves, it creates a block in our fellowship with the Lord.

Disobedience

Jesus is Lord, The concept of lord becomes almost a cliché in church circles today because we don’t have kings and lords. We hear it so much that we don’t often stop to think about what it means. If He is Lord, that means He is boss. Furthermore, it means that everybody is supposed to obey. Not only is He Lord, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Lord over all.(Rev. 19:16)

When we don’t obey, we deny His power and authority in our lives. Is it any wonder disobedience creates a block in fellowship? If you are frustrated in your desire to be closer to God, ask Him to show you any area where you have disobeyed Him.

Idolatry

Idolatry includes much more than bowing down to a carved statue. It is choosing something else above God. It could be a person or persons, material things, pleasure, power, success, or more. Anything we place more importance on than God could become an idol without us realizing it.

History, as recorded in the Bible and in secular records, confirms that when God’s people choose to serve idols, there are always negative consequences, ranging from plagues, to being conquered, to death by calamity. When Moses was on the mountain and Israel made the golden calf, God would have destroyed the people and raised a nation through Moses if Moses had not intervened.

In a culture where it is not popular to honor God, it’s easy to follow the crowd into any of various forms of idolatry. We need to guard ourselves, because Jesus said we cannot follow God and mammon, for we will love the one and hate the other (Mt. 6:24).

If we are divided in our loyalty, not only will we find fellowship with God impossible, but we are on a slippery slope that could lead to destruction.

(This is beside the point of the blog, but I am concerned for our nation and the world because of the prevalence of rejecting God and choosing instead to worship at the idol of “moral freedom”. The Lord is not mocked. There will be consequences if we do not repent.)

Unbelief

Unbelief can range from lack of saving faith in Jesus Christ, to not truly believing the Lords wants intimate fellowship with us, to not believing He can use us for His glory. When we don’t believe Jesus is God’s Son, don’t believe what He says, or that He has the power and authority to work through us, it is denial of Him

How can we have true fellowship when we don’t receive for who He is? If you find yourself in this category, be like the father whose son need healing, cry out to God, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

God’s love is perfect. While we were in the pit of sin, He gave His life so that we could enjoy rich fellowship. I don’t believe it blocks Him unless we are set in our sin, but it hinders us even when we have stray limbs littering our heart. We can’t fully enjoy Him while holding things that deny Him or place other things as a higher priority in our lives.

Do you want to commune with the Lord, but it’s not happening?

If that’s you, seek the Lord. Ask Him to shine the spotlight on the lawn of your heart, to show you any clutter that needs to be cleaned up.

I’m grateful for the perfect weather to clean up the yard and get rid of the mess. It is freeing to have a lawn freed of accumulated clutter..

But it’s nothing compared to the freedom of having a clean heart and the joy of having rich fellowship with the Lord.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, nd He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7).

Walking in Covenant with the Living God

As Jesus a Image result for images of the lord's supper nd His disciples sat around their final Passover meal together, Jesus took
bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to His disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is My body” (Mt. 26:26).

Eat my body? What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to eat His body?

As if that is not strange enough, He then took a cup of wine, gave thanks and said, “Drink from it all of you, for this is My blood . . .” (Mt. 26:27-28a).

When telling parables, Jesus frequently explained what they meant. If He didn’t, the disciples often asked. However, Jesus didn’t explain what He meant in this scene. And nobody asked.

Nobody questioned because they knew exactly what Jesus intended. No further explanation was needed. Jesus was inviting His disciples to join Him in a blood covenant.

The ancient rite of cutting a blood covenant was familiar in their society. His followers knew the ritual and understood the significance of eating flesh and drinking blood as an important step of a covenant ritual.

A blood covenant is the most binding of agreements. In the East, a friend by covenant is closer than a brother by birth. In some cultures, a marriage between those whose parents were linked by a blood covenant was deemed incestuous. (H. Clay Trumbull, The Blood Covenant: A Primitive Rite and It’s Bearing on Scripture, 1893).

In history, literature, and in scripture, there are many records of making covenants. However, over the centuries, crucial elements have been omitted or changed, leaving only semblances of the ancient ritual today. Although the concept of covenant is almost unknown in the Western world today, during biblical time, it was a common practice all over the world. Everyone understood the exchanges of covenant and the significance of each exchange.

In Greek, a single word is translated as “covenant” or “testament.” The very names “Old Testament/Covenant” and “New Testament/Covenant” tell us that covenant is the central theme of God’s Word to us, and yet many of God’s people have been oblivious to the significance of the covenant for centuries.

A blood covenant forms the closest relationship possible. In the Old Covenant, the almighty God committed Himself to be Abraham’s God, walking in close fellowship with Him, sharing His all with him.

Over and over, God has proved Himself faithful to the covenant, because of His great desire to walk in intimate fellowship with mankind. When Abraham’s descendants were not able to keep up their end of the covenant, God proved His faithfulness by establishing a better covenant through His only Son, Jesus.

Through Jesus Christ, the holy, almighty, living God has done everything to make it possible for us to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him.

And yet, while we long for close relationships, for someone to really love and care for us, instead of responding to God’s love, we tend to look around us to fill that longing. We chase a tainted shadow rather than embracing the only One who has covenanted Himself to meet our every need.

Learning the exchanges of the ancient ritual and what each one symbolizes and then seeing them in Scripture and God’s faithfulness to keep His promises (in spite of our unfaithfulness) exploded my knowledge of who God is and anchored me in the knowledge of His love.

When I try to express the greatness of His love, I don’t have words to begin because it’s too big. When I focus on it, I become overwhelmed with His goodness, mercy, and compassion. His love and goodness is too big to express.

And yet, instead of seeking God, even those of us who know Jesus often look to each other, to entertainment, sports, things, popularity, power, and . . .—to empty, temporal sources that will never satisfy. We are so distracted by our wants that we miss the One who can satisfy those desires.

The great and powerful God not only desires an intimate relationship with you and me, He has committed Himself to make it happen. With the most binding agreement possible, He has promised (covenanted) His all to us, if we will give our all to Him in return.

That’s what covenant is—except there’s so much more when we give our limited, sinful self in exchange for His awesome greatness. It is truly the greatest exchange of all times, and Jesus continues to say, “Take, eat, this is my body.” He wants to be one with us.

The question is whether or not we are willing to make that exchange, and to live in it daily.

———-

Learn more about the exchanges of the ancient ritual what it means to walk in covenant with the living God.

A Son Was Given

I helped change our church sign for Christmas. Gathering the letters one at a time, led me to mediate on adoption and on Isaiah 9:6. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . ..”

Many sons are given these days. Mothers who are children themselves aren’t prepared to tackle the full-time demands of a baby or for guiding them into adulthood. They often give their innocent babies up for adoption.

Most of those mothers are torn apart when they make the decision that their baby would be better cared for in a family. There are exceptions, but most give up their infants because they want the best for them. They do it out of love.

Over the years, they track their child’s birthdays, watch other children who are the same age, and dream of what their child looks and acts like. Most continue to hold their babies in their hearts. even though they will never see them again.

Adoption usually brings life and joy to the child and to the family that enfolds it. However, recently, I spoke with a mother who gave up two babies and continues to long for them. With tears in her eyes, she said she was glad she did it, because she knows it’s best for the children.

But it is a sacrifice to give up a child, to release someone who is part of you.

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the son that our heavenly Father gave up. As I pulled the letters for the sign, I began to think about what it takes to give a son.

The almighty, the perfect Father in whom all wisdom dwells, gave up His son. He is the perfect father, the model for all fathers, but He gave His son.

Furthermore, He didn’t give just any child. He gave His only son, a perfect child, one born without sin. A Son Who had been with Him from eternity, One He knew would please Him in everything.

Two other words in the verse stood out to me, “to us.” “To us a child is born. To us a son is given.”

God gave His Son up—to us! Like many parents today, He was motivated by love. John 3:16 say, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

But, there is a marked difference from us.

God didn’t make the sacrifice because it would be best for His son. He did it because He “so loved” the world. He loved you and me so much that He gave His beloved son to and for us.

That love is deeper than we can imagine. You see, there’s more.

When God gave that baby, born in a lowly manger, to us He knew that the day would come when His precious Son would be despised, rejected, and die a cruel death on a cross. God sent His perfect son to suffer a terrible death at our hands.

And yet, “to us a Son was given.”

Why? A holy God can’t fellowship with sinful man, and He wanted to have a relationship with us, so He provided a way to clean us up. He did it so we can be adopted as his children.

He did it because He loves us.

In return, He simply asks us to love Him in return. He offered his pure, faithful always-with-us love, asking only for our wavering, contaminated love, which is polluted with self-centeredness.

That is something to celebrate! But it is also incomprehensible. We’re not worthy of such a gift.

And yet, God did it. He gave His son to–and for–me and you. Because he loves us so much.

Unto us a Son is given. Seeing this more clearly deepens my desire to know my heavenly Father, to know His love, and to love Him in return.

I desire the same for you. This Christmas, may you and yours be wrapped in God’s perfect love.

Breaking a Barrier to Intimacy with the Lord

“If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matt. 5:23-24).

People often get upset or bent out of shape for no apparent reason, and it’s often difficult to approach them to clear things up.

The more troubled or difficult the relationship is, the easier it is to leave things along and just hope and pray that they get better. That is especially true if you don’t see that person often.

But there is a major problem with that approach to resolving a problem. These verses tell us that if someone else has something against us, our relationship with the Lord is hampered until we go to that other person and be reconciled.

Maybe the other relationship isn’t important, but what about your relationship with God? Are you willing to have that blocked because of a misunderstanding with a co-worker, friend, or family member?

It can be very difficult to say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong; will you forgive me?”. However, when that relationship was broken, your relationship with God was broken too.

Fellowship with God will not be restored until you reconcile the broken earthly relationship.

It’s worth the effort.

Before going to make things right, be sure to:

recognize your own fault–that is. take the log out of your own eye,
ask the Lord to prepare the way before you,
prepare ahead of time what you will say, being sure to not cast blame on the other person or defend yourself,
go in the spirit of love, seeking reconciliation–not “justice” for or confession from the other person.

Even if you are not fully reconciled with the person, if you go in humility and the spirit of love, you will find that fellowship with the Lord will be restored. Furthermore, in time the earthly relationship might turn around.

I’ve had to go way out of my way to reconcile with people I rarely interacted with but who had ought against me–and some of those times I felt I was innocent of wrong-doing. Every time, it’s released my relationship with the Lord to a new level of intimacy.

It’s worth the effort. Jesus wants to dine with us and us with Him in an intimate setting. He’s knocking and waiting on us (Rev. 3:20-21).

Have you experienced renewed intimacy with the Lord when you’ve left your gift at the alter to go and be reconciled with someone?

Robert & Kay Camenisch encouraging and equipping relationships