“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offering to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.'” (7:29-30a)
The heart in this part of the system would be good for us, still today. Imagine, if in our corporate worship sessions we were bringing things to sacrifice to God. It would take humility. Declaring, I have been wrong, I need forgiveness. In this case, needing to make peace.
I’ve seen some semblance of this in modern worship times. Maybe it’s a time of confession, offering, “popcorn prayers” of thanksgiving. We’ve heard it preached plenty of times:
“If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” (Matthew 5:23)
But I’m pretty sure I’ve never gotten up to handle something like that in the middle of church.
We need to take action with our bodies, bring our thanksgiving, peace offerings, etc somewhere! We need to be humble in front of each other. I know it’s super easy to just “quietly, in your hearts” “handle” something, but if feels less healthy.
What do you guys think?
-Bethany