Bring It

“This is the ceremony you must follow when you consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams with no defects. Then, using choice wheat flour and no yeast, make loaves of bread, thin cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers spread with oil. Place them all in a single basket, and present them at the entrance of the Tabernacle, along with the young bull and the two rams. [Exodus 29.1-3]

Beginning with this passage and everything that follows it in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading (through chapter 31) said one thing to me, "BRING IT."

All I could hear in my spirit as I read these three chapters today was, "BRING IT!"

There is a reason God has us do certain things - He wants us to BRING IT!

Why? Because when we are conscious that we are "bringing it" we are conscious of God. There is in fact a reason for protocol as defined in the verses above and the verses that follow them. Preparation is necessary. There are things to be done. There is a  necessary preparation of the heart and mind when considering the Kingdom of God! There is no way we can understand God's holiness without seeing it as 'set apart' - consecrated - sanctified.

There are key words I saw in today's reading: follow, consecrate, take, make, bring... God is not interested in our sloppy-beer-bellied-unkempt-slouched-on-the-couch attitude in approaching Him and His Kingdom work! And yet in that lazy condition we have the audacity to ask God to "move" on our behalf???

God wants to move. God wants His Kingdom to prevail on earth. Jesus taught us to pray to God, "May Your Kingdom come!" Jesus taught us to pray to God, "May Your will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!" God wants us to BRING IT!

There is all kinds of symbolism in the entire OYCB reading today. But, suffice to to say, there IS something to be done. And we should not think for a moment this is about legalism or works. Jesus was very clear that there were things to be done: prayer, fasting, forsaking all, following Him...

The point is, unless we are willing to BRING all to Him, there is absolutely no way we can BRING anything to a lost and dying world. For this reason, the world looks at Christians as stupid, out of touch, and generally irrelevant. Unlike Jesus, we face the circumstances of the world with worthless aesthetics (lights, smoke and mirrors, coffee shops, "relevance") not to mention meaningless doctrines and theology that change nothing or no one.

But Jesus wants us, like Him, to BRING IT! BRING what? The Kingdom of God in all its power and glory!

But first, we must BRING IT to Him: all our failures and junk - all our religion - all our pride (which makes us self-centered, arrogant and unforgiving). He wants us to BRING IT and lay it at His Cross so that it might be covered by His blood - in order that we might enjoy the freedom afforded by the penalty that precious blood paid for.

Then, He wants us to BRING IT to the world just like He did. What? The Kingdom! When we encounter fear, He wants us to BRING IT with Kingdom peace. When we encounter despair, He wants us to BRING IT with hope! When we encounter sin, He wants is to BRING IT with forgiveness! When we encounter pain and suffering, He wants us to BRING IT with comfort and healing! When we encounter hunger, He wants us to BRING IT with food! When we encounter death, He wants us to BRING IT with life!

But we will bring nothing to the world until we have first brought everything to Jesus.

It is not ironic, in my focus on 'bringing it' today, that in chapter 30, verse 10 of Exodus there is discussion about the altar of incense. Preceded by instructions about the construction and maintenance of the altar of incense, verse 10 makes a symbolic point that absolutely cannot be ignored in this 'bring it' perception. Throughout the Bible, incense represents prayer (the book of Revelation removes all doubt). And, if incense indeed represents prayer, then prayer's unmatched significance is well-defined in verse 10:

“Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the LORD’s most holy altar.” [Exodus 30.10]

Let me repeat: we will bring nothing to the world until we have first brought everything to Jesus.

The message today is BRING IT.

Father, thank You for what You have spoken to me today.