It’s month 7, and this month we are living in the Philippines. I’m living with team TLC, and we are partnering with Grow International Ministries. The last two weeks we’ve been building relationships, hanging out with kids at the center, and helping with community assistance projects such as painting, recycling, and leveling the ground. Our mode of transportation this month has been jeepneys. We take these when we travel into the city to go to the kids center. This month we’ve had a great balance of city life and living in the mountains.
This month in my quiet time with the Lord I’ve been reading through Leviticus and Numbers. I’ve asked the Lord to bring perspective and give me His eyes to illuminate the word. As I’ve been reading, I’ve noticed some themes in the language used when describing the ways the Israelites would offer sacrifices or go through processes to be clean before the Lord.
Throughout the chapters, these are some of the words/phrases that stuck out to me:
- Accepted or acceptable to the Lord
- Offer pleasing aroma for atonement
- Made or presented to the Lord
- Only sacrifices without defect and with proper value
- Restitution in full plus more
- Anointed with oil and consecrated
- Importance of generations to come
In reading and reflecting, I’ve been thinking about how much preparation the Israelites did to have access to the Lord (which was still very limited) and the ways they had to alter themselves to be acceptable to the Lord.
When I read about Jesus and the access to the Father we have now as believers, this blows my mind. What a difference it is! When I sit and reflect, I see the true gift we have now – the weight the cross really had in being able to reconcile us back to our relationship with the Father. Also, the beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit who never leaves us and always goes with us. We have access to Him all the time.
I looked more into the word consecrated which means: to make or declare sacred, dedicated to divine purpose, sanctify, made holy, dedicated to the Lord, devoted, set apart.
As believers and followers of Jesus, we are called to live lives set apart to the Lord. To live like Jesus in the way He modeled how to live in the world, love God, and love others. In this though, I catch myself falling back into operating in such a way where I try to present myself to the Lord. I catch myself in beliefs that by working and doing everything I’m somehow becoming more acceptable to the Lord.
When in reality, the Lord has already accepted me as His child – a daughter. He loves me so much. What does it look like to operate from a place of love- of being loved and looking to love those around me. When I’m operating out of this mindset, I find myself naturally becoming more like Jesus as I seek out His truth, share His love with those around me, and live in freedom and peace. I see His goodness all around me and can’t help but overflow with praise and thanksgiving.
God’s heart is for relationship with us. He wants us to live from a place of love and interact with others from this place rather than from seeking acceptance or performance. His love is where relationships are cultivated, people are reconciled, and healing and transformation occur.
