Text: 1 Peter 2:4-10
Memory verse:
“you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 2:5).
One of the redemption benefits we have in Christ is the priesthood of every believer. Having abolished the old system of Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices, every believer has been made a holy priest unto Christ. Priesthood is no longer for a tribe or a class of people but for everyone who has been redeemed by the blood sacrifice of Jesus.
According to our text, we are called to offer sacrifices unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual sacrifices replace the material sacrifices in the Old Testament, which involved the offering of bulls, goats and lambs on the altar. Our spiritual sacrifices include the praises we offer to God, our prayers, our will, our bodies and our resources (time, money and talents). The sacrifices are acceptable to God only when we offer them through Jesus Christ, the great High Priest.
Let’s consider the sacrifice of praise. God created us for His praise and we are called to offer the sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15). This is the kind of praise that keeps a person focused on God in spite of his unpleasant circumstances. Job’s attitude is a good example. With the torrential afflictions that suddenly came upon him, including the loss of children, wealth and health, Job didn’t take his focus from God. In fact, his wife, sharing the burden of the afflictions, didn’t spare her words, when she advised him to curse God and call it off. “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”” (Job 2:9).
Likewise, Job didn’t spare his words with his decision to stick to the Lord in spite of his troubles. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.” (Job 13:15). Wow!
Habakkuk also determined to praise God in spite of the bad year, poor farm returns and the economic recession. Even though the time was bad and the future looked bleak, he was too sure that it was not the end for him, because God is able to turn things around. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills….” (Hab 3:18-19).
Friends, with the present difficulties and poor economic conditions, are you still trusting God? Are you still praising God? Is your love for God intact? Or are you gradually drawing back in your commitment to God? Yes, your challenge may not be economic. Whichever, when you resist the temptation to judge God in your difficulties and to offer praises instead, you are offering a spiritual sacrifice of praise. Now, take your position as a holy priest unto Christ and offer the sacrifice of praise to God in spite of your circumstances. Hallelujah!
Prayer points
1. Father, I know You are too faithful to fail me, so, please help me to still trust You in the midst of my difficulties in Jesus name.
2. Father, please, let me never fail in my priesthood call to always offer spiritual sacrifices unto You in Jesus name.
Today’s declarations
1. I am a holy priest called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.
2. I choose to praise God and to resist the temptation of judging God in my difficulties.