Heart Tracks - Altars

"Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness." Malachi 3:3...."We have no shortage of gifts to bring to our altars, because the world has no shortage of altars." Chris Tiegreen...."All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to God on which you will sacrifice yourself." Alexander MacLaren

I think the meaning of an altar is slowly being lost in the church. If we do think of them, it's usually as something from Old Testament times when the Priest offered sacrifices to Jehovah God, or more recently, as something that once was present in the church before we realized we needed to be more "seeker friendly." I never really got that concept, because what better place is there to seek Him than at His altar? In any event, I think we've lost the reality of what it is to bring an offering to His altar, and that was is placed on His altar is given over, completely, to Him. Add to that reality the truth that regardless of how we might view it, we make offerings, sacrifices, on seemingly countless altars throughout the course of our days. Indeed, every day.

Tiegreen says, correctly, that the world offers us no shortage of altars upon which to offer sacrifice. The altars of success, accumulation, applause, legacies, reputation, pleasure, and on an on. More, that everyone of those altars can be found in our churches, and in the ministries that compose them. We can offer the sacrifice of not only ourselves in the pursuit of them, but of our marriages and families as well. And as we do so, we can be deceived into believing it is all given up for Him, when in fact, we make sacrifice to all that is not Him. I know. I've made "offerings" on most of those same altars. Ministry success, the esteem of my peers, recognition in the church, the advancement of my agenda, the fulfillment of my desires. I thought it was for His glory, and a lot of it was, but I didn't see the mixture involved. I didn't see how much of my own glory was "mixed in." I was missing two great truths; God doesn't share His glory with anyone or anything, and that any offering made to Him must be pure, "without blemish." Too many of mine had more than a few blemishes. I'd wager that too many of yours do as well.

In the lives of the Old Testament Patriarchs, we see them at various stages of their journey, building an altar to Him and making sacrifice there. Nor more so than in the life of Abraham, when he built an altar to the Lord and was offering the very life of his cherished son Issac. He was willing to give to God the one he loved above all. Above all except his God. Such is the call to those who are His. As MacLaren says, all along the way of our walk with Him, we'll be called upon to make the sacrifice of ourselves; our hopes, dreams, desires, plans, all of ourselves to all that He is. What do you and I do when that call comes to us, and it will come? When it does, two altars will be before us. His, and that which is not Him, against Him, and seduces us into giving glory to that which is false while missing the One who is True and Truth.

Wherever you are on the course, those two altars lie before you. When you come to them, you'll be faced with the choice of upon which you'll offer sacrifice. Have you already made that choice that it will be upon His, or, does there remain a lingering question? Which one of the countless altars of the world seduces you? Fire always consumes the altars offering. Which fire will consume you? The Holy Fire of God, or, the unholy fire of the one the Word calls, The Destroyer? A terrifying question. How do you and I answer?

Blessings,
Pastor O