sacrifice of Jesus – Seek Grow Love

~ Devotion by Cayce Fletcher (SC)

Cayce Fletcher is a wife and homeschool mom of three. She writes and podcasts at amorebeautifullifecollective.com where she helps women cultivate a life of depth, discipline, and delight. Read the latest post on finding beauty in the everyday here.

This week, we’ve been approaching ever so slowly the end of the Israelites’ 40th year in the wilderness. There has been a changing of the guard throughout these chapters – with the deaths of Miriam and Aaron and now the foretold death of Moses. God takes this time now to prepare Joshua for the task of leading the people through these words given to Moses.

You may think that Moses would focus on something more akin to the ‘12 irrefutable laws of leadership,’ but he takes this time to double down on the system of sacrifices that the law instituted.

Offer a lamb in the morning.
Pour out a drink offering each day.
Offer some flour each day.
Offer a lamb in the evening.
Offer two lambs on the Sabbath.
Offer two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish at the beginning of the month plus a male goat
On the Passover (during the first month of the year) make an additional offering everyday for seven days
During the other festivals throughout the year, make an offering

Over and over, the commandments are the same: Make an offering. Make an offering. Make an offering.

Joshua’s role as leader of the people was not to be successful – whether in the ancient ways of building more impressive buildings or in the modern ways of money and acclaim amongst the people. His role was to shepherd the people to follow the ways of God. And, central to the ways of God is this system of offerings.

Burnt Offerings were so important because “the burnt offering required the worshipper to incinerate a valuable asset which could have been used to increase one’s wealth. The worshipper would have to believe that the Lord would provide for their needs regardless of the loss” (from Favor by Fire: Burnt Offerings and the Bible). Burnt Offerings required the Israelites to order their hearts rightly and sacrifice in complete trust and obedience (much like tithing today).

Burnt Offerings also beautifully point to the future atonement of Christ’s work on the cross. Hebrews 10:11-14 says, “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest [aka Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

It’s fitting that this is the basis for Moses’ instructions to Joshua. To be a leader means that you have to live with sacrifice at the forefront of your mind. You have to base your decisions on God and treat your influence and accomplishments tenderly, stewarding them rather than boasting in them.

Moses’ final instructions remind us of the focus of our life. We should live for God in all that we do. And, that requires sacrifice.

Reflection Questions

What would burnt offerings require of the people in the past? Why did God require this sacrifice?
How is the idea of sacrifice different under the New Covenant? Do we still have to practice a form of daily sacrifice?
How did the ancient form of sacrifices point to Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice?

Prayer

God,

Thank you for the perfect gift of your son as our saving sacrifice. Let us be a daily offering to you through our lives. Let all we are and do bring honor and glory to you.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

SGL.2026.CalendarDownload

His Perfect Plan

Romans 5

May 21

Romans 5 is the chapter to flip to anytime you or someone you know finds yourself questioning how the whole world could possibly be saved through the sacrifice of one man. Why is this the way God chose to go about doing things? What makes this plan the best one? Romans chapter 5 makes much of this clear. One man’s righteousness justified the sins of every man, because this was the most powerful act of love God could have demonstrated.

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8

The world being saved through one man also brings God’s plan full circle, as sin was brought into the world through one man, and so the world will be justified by the sacrifice of one man.

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:18-19

God’s act of love was not conditional; it was not a result of anything we did or could ever do to deserve it. Christ died while we were still sinners, so that we, as sinners, may be justified and partake in the promise of the Kingdom, when God brings His world back to eternal divine perfection.

-Isabella Osborn

Discussion Questions:

Why was God’s intervention necessary in order for us to have a real relationship with Him?
Would it be hard for you to to make the kind of sacrifice God made for us?
How would you describe the poetic nature of God’s plan, from the Adam to the Christ; from being inescapably doomed to being set free?

2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading Plan Download

Be Holy

Leviticus 19-20

God’s message to the entire assembly of Israel was “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy”. (Lev. 19:1) As we move through Leviticus, we are seeing that God is giving very specific instructions to show the people and priests how to be ceremonially clean. He is setting them apart from the other nations. He is forbidding horrendous behavior (like child sacrifice) and presenting them with the idea of being holy. As followers of Christ, we are asked to be holy as well. As 1 Peter 1:15 states, “just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do”. And Paul’s writings state that God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

When we think about God’s holiness, we might feel overwhelmed because He is so awesome. But let’s consider how God is Holy. God’s supreme Holiness sets Him apart from His creation. He is unique. He is the Only True God (Jn. 17:3). He is perfect in every way. He is the Creator and Giver of all that is good, He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving, just, God is Love…

So how could the Israelites become holy? The LORD tells them to consecrate themselves-turn their lives over to the LORD. He states that they should keep and follow His decrees. Most important He said that He is the LORD who makes them holy. (Lev. 20:7-8) This was true for the Israelites, and it is true for us today. He is the LORD who can make us holy.

We need to offer ourselves to Him as living sacrifices (Rom.12:1) and accept God’s ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:10b and 10:14)

-Rebecca Dauksas

Links to today’s Bible reading – Leviticus 19-20 and Psalm 25-26

2021-seekgrowlove-bible-reading-plan-1 Download

The Scriptures Are for All Generations

Leviticus 15-16 and Psalm 21-22

One huge benefit of living in our day and time is having an extensive body of God’s scriptures available to us. We can see scriptures that clearly confirm God’s plan has been actively unfolding throughout all ages and to each generation. Leviticus 16 explains the event that we refer to as the Day of Atonement.

The High Priest would follow the ordinances on one special day once a year to cleanse all the members of the community from their sins. The people would observe a Sabbath rest because on that day atonement would be made for them, to cleanse them. “Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.” (Lev. 16:30)

Of course, as Christians we can see that these offerings were pointing to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We know that he is our great high priest (Heb. 4:14) who offers us the opportunity to be forgiven of sin. He sacrificed his own blood for our forgiveness. He wanted us to be cleansed from all of our sins and to be reconciled to God.

That was carried out through his sacrificial death on the cross and amazingly Psalm 22 reveals what this experience was like for Jesus Christ. David may be writing about personal experiences and yet he miraculously described the crucifixion. He wrote this event about 1,000 years before it occurred. This Psalm begins with the words spoken by Jesus on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet the Psalm ends in praise to God. It states that all future generations will serve Him and be told about the Lord. “They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (Psalm 22:31)

We have the benefit of seeing the results and rewards that Christ accomplished for himself and for all his followers. Praise God that we have the scriptures that explain this to us. Scriptures that were written through many centuries and passed on to the next generations. We have a bird’s eye view of how beautifully God works through His faithful followers. Be faithful to share the scriptures with others because all that God has spoken through them will be accomplished.

-Rebecca Dauksas

Links to today’s Bible reading – Leviticus 15-16 and Psalm 21-22

2021-seekgrowlove-bible-reading-plan-1 Download

Tag: sacrifice of Jesus