Faith

Numbers 28.1,2 has an interesting statement: The Lord said to Moses, “Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions. God's FOOD?

I also wondered this morning about the transition from the Temple sacrifices to John's baptism... how different was that? Did John participate in the practices of the Temple? When he confronted the people, instead of prescribing sacrifices and offerings, John instructed them to give to the poor and hungry and treat all people fairly. Mind you, this was all before Jesus' work at the cross!

Luke further records that everyone was expecting the Messiah... this time of expectancy in John's day was when we are first introduced to baptism as far as I know. All of this however was done in faith. The Jews had long anticipated the coming Messiah, and, although they were compliant in the practice and ritual of the law, they but had grown complacent and lost their way as far as faith goes (the faith of Abraham). John 's message renewed their sense of faith regarding salvation through the Messiah.

Not enough may be said about faith regarding our relationship to God - whether looking forward to Messiah or looking back to Messiah. Hmmm.

Father, I want to grow in faith!