Piece by piece

When I think about giving my heart to God it sounds too easy and sometimes I think we can make it easier than it is too. We say, "Lord, I give you my heart" and we think that is all that is needed.

«Then he slaughtered the burnt offering; and Aaron's sons brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it on the altar all around. And they brought the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he let it go up in smoke on the altar »(3. Mose 9,12-13).
I want to show you that this verse is a parallel to the repentance that God desires for us too.

Sometimes when we say to the Lord, here is my heart, it's like we're throwing it in front of him. That's not how it is meant. When we do it in this way, our repentance is very blurry and we are not consciously turning away from the sinful act. We don't just throw a piece of meat on the grill, otherwise it would not be fried evenly. It is the same with our sinful hearts, we must clearly see what to turn away from.

They gave him the burnt offering piece by piece, including the head, and he burned each part on the altar. I want to focus on the fact that Aaron's two sons presented him with the offer bit by bit. They didn't throw the whole animal up there, but put certain pieces on the altar.

Note that Aaron's two sons presented the offering piece by piece to their father. They didn't just put the slaughtered animal whole on the altar. We must do the same with our sacrifice, with our heart. Instead of saying, "Lord, here is my heart," we should lay before God those things that pollute our hearts. Lord I give you my gossip, I give you my lusts in my heart, I leave you my doubts. When we begin to give our hearts to God in this way, He accepts it as a sacrifice. All the evil things in our life will then turn to ashes on the altar, which the wind of the Spirit will blow away.

by Fraser Murdoch