Human Sacrifice...

2 Kings 3:24-27 (Click on reference to read text)

I read this passage this morning and it literally made me nauseous. How could a grown man ever hang their child on a wall and offer them as a burnt sacrifice to a false god? And even if by doing such an act could induce this god to come to his aid, why would you ever serve a god that requires such cruel and grotesque means of worship? Yet, as always happens, in my moment of greatest judgment and self-righteousness, the Holy Spirit began to whisper to my heart. Nausea was replaced by tears as I realized, how can I so quickly offer my children as a sacrifice to my own desires and ambitions?

Although you would never see any children in a American being burned as an offering, there are families and children all across this country who live the lives of sacrifice to their parent's false gods. Children are forgotten or pushed off to various camps and day cares so that parents can get ahead, work longer, and not have to do the day to day rearing and training. TV has become the cheapest babysitter our generation has ever known. Quality family time has been replaced by busy schedules and pushing children to be great at sports, academics, and music pursuits at increasingly younger ages.

Each of these things in small increments can actually be beneficial. It is wonderful for our children to have the joy of sports, learn to play a musicual instruments, or for us as parents to work hard and provide for our family. However, we must make sure we are living a life of balance that is pleasing to the Lord. We must make sure we are living our lives in priority to His standards. I have been increasingly convicted of my schedule and what I allow to drive my day. As we pray about Christian ministry and what the Lord would have us do for Him, as a parent, those questions become painfully obvious. If you have children, the Lord has entrusted them to you, raise them in a way pleasing to Him! They must always be our first "ministry."

I am preaching to myself. Just today I was thinking about how I really "needed" time to myself, so I was all set to allow them to have a day of watching hours of television or whatever necessary so that I could appease the god of "me time." How quickly I justify my actions by cultural acceptablity and not my Heavenly Father's viewpoint. I pray that I will never sacrifice my children to gods that do not satisfy, that cannot truly bring peace and lasting reward, and that simply destroys my family and my children in the long run. Instead "in view of God’s mercy, may I offer my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God for this is my true and proper worship. May I not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind. Then I will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. " (Romans 12:1-2).

Let Go and Let God...

"In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel. For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you." Psalm 71:1-6

The only action that the writer takes is praise! Are we trying to be our own refuge, deliverer, rescuer, savior, fortress, hope, confidence, or sustainer? Is our confidence about "how we are doing" in our life based upon how we measure up in these areas? If so... we need to get out of the way!!! Our response and responsibility is praise.

Praise the Lord Jesus who longs to be (and is way more capable at being than we are) our refuge, our deliverer, our rescuer, our savior, our fortress, our hope, our confidence and our sustainer. You don't have to hold it all together, because he already is (Col 1:17).

Simple, yet exactly what I needed to hear today. As the old saying goes... let go and let God!

For further study: Psalm 46:1-3, Psalm 140:6-7, Psalm 34:17-20, 22, Titus 3:5-7, 1 John 1:3-5, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 25:5, Philippians 3:1-14, Jeremiah 17:7, Nehemiah 9:5-21