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Often when reading the Old Testament, there is a lot that doesn’t make sense to our modern mindsets. We read about genealogies, and ritualistic laws and wonder what they have to do with our salvation in Christ. It’s easy to gloss over them; to think that the fact that we live under the New Covenant means that the old one doesn’t matter. However, we do this at our peril because the New Covenant is often explained and articulated in light of the old covenant’s terms and traditions.

One such thing that may catch us off guard as we read the books of the laws and prophets is the number and frequency of the sacrificies that were made. The regular reminder of the Israelites’ sins and the atonenment that would be provided through their (and our) Messiah may now seem inconsequential. What was future looking for them, is now done and accomplished for us.  However, as with many things, Scripture uses this old convenant imagery to help us understand how we should live in light of the ultimate sacrifice that our Savior made.  Romans 12:1 says that we should “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice.” Throughout his epistles, Paul writes that he is being “poured out like a drink offering.” (Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6)  In other words, because of the ultimate sacrifice, our lives are now offered to God, we are dead to ourselves, just like the animals that were set abalze.

However, we need to remember that the place that the animals were offered, the altar, had another purpose as well. The altar was not only the place where sacrifices were made, but they were the reminder of God’s faithfulness and provisions. They were testaments to the work that God had done and the places that He had brought His people from. Simiarily, our lives should be ablaze with the evidence of what God has done in them. When people look at us they should see the changes that could only come through the refining fire of His hands. We should be a light to the world, not only in delivering the Good News, but in glorifying God through our lives.  Just like the altars of old, our lives should put God on display.

May we do so. May our lives not just be a living sacrifice, but may they may a testament to the great God Who we serve.

Growing up, we never had a door jam measuring ritual; you know the one I’m talking about – where the kids line up against the wall, and each inch of growth is dutifully accounted for.

This lack of formal acknowledgment didn’t stop my sister and I from regularly measuring and comparing our heights. We would stand back to back to see who was taller. We would ask my mom to bring out her measuring tape. We would angle to see which one of us was most quickly approaching the heights of our shorter relatives. As kids, we intuitively cared about the progress we were making, even over something that we had very little control of.

What we knew as kids however, is often forgotten as adults. As we get older, we might not getting any taller, but as Christians we should still be growing, for we should be growing in our relationships with Christ. And just as the measuring tape proved a useful instrument for capturing our increase in height as a child, so we must regularly ascertain our spiritual progress. We must take into account where we were previously, and how God has stretch us to become more like His Son. We must chart the fruits that are being developed in us. We must measure our growth; not in order to feel good about ourselves or boast in what’s happened to us, but to give God glory for what He has done, and to make sure that we are constantly “working out our salvation” (Phil. 2:12) and  deepening our walk with Him.

When kids run up to the door jam and see that they’ve grown another quarter of an inch, they celebrate as if they had won the Super Bowl. How much more so should we acknowledge and celebrate what God is doing in our lives!