It's not too often when I can say that I starved myself and it was one of the greatest feelings of the year. This past weekend it was my distinct privilege to participate in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine with my youth group. I had 12 teenagers agree, without a gun to their head, to go without food for 30 hours.
With some incentives along the way, they raised $2,025! I am so very proud of them. It would be very easy for me to sit back and applaud myself and my group that this event went very well. But that would be very unlike the insignificance I seek. My response will be like the servant Jesus talked about in Luke 17:7-10, "[I] have only done [my] duty."
See, what we did was a good thing. I have deep hope for the money to have great impact. But we are not the first. Nor will we be the last. We did not raise the most or suffer the greatest. My hope is for us to be counted worthy of serving God in a long line of those who have given up something so that God can be glorified.
This picture has become clearer to me in recent days. I finished the book of Leviticus. (It only took me 2 months!) Near the end, in Leviticus 24, God commanded the Israelites to bring Moses and Aaron oil for the lampstands in the Tabernacle.
This means that one of the priests needed to be on guard 24/7 at the Tabernacle. They needed to ensure that the lamps did not go out. As they got older they would need to train the younger. When the lamps were transferred to the Temple in Solomon's day they would need to be perpetually lit. From generation to generation.
I imagine a priest during the time of King David, or later, fulfilling his duty. Most days it was all the same. Check the lamps. Add more oil. But perhaps every once in a while he would give it just a little bit more thought. He would remember reading of Moses and Aaron and recall that it was long ago that God first decreed that the lamps be lit.
I imagine he would feel very small at that moment. He was just one priest of many, fulfilling his duty. He was just one priest in a line of priests who had remained faithful at keeping the lamps lit. How awesome to ponder the many years and the many priests that had performed these same tasks, to the glory of the same God.
We are part of something much bigger than ourselves. Each of us is just one in a very long line.
With some incentives along the way, they raised $2,025! I am so very proud of them. It would be very easy for me to sit back and applaud myself and my group that this event went very well. But that would be very unlike the insignificance I seek. My response will be like the servant Jesus talked about in Luke 17:7-10, "[I] have only done [my] duty."
See, what we did was a good thing. I have deep hope for the money to have great impact. But we are not the first. Nor will we be the last. We did not raise the most or suffer the greatest. My hope is for us to be counted worthy of serving God in a long line of those who have given up something so that God can be glorified.
This picture has become clearer to me in recent days. I finished the book of Leviticus. (It only took me 2 months!) Near the end, in Leviticus 24, God commanded the Israelites to bring Moses and Aaron oil for the lampstands in the Tabernacle.
"Order the People of Israel to bring you virgin olive oil for light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Aaron is in charge of keeping these lamps burning in front of the curtain that screens The Testimony in the Tent of Meeting from evening to morning continually before God. This is a perpetual decree down through the generations. Aaron is responsible for keeping the lamps burning continually on the Lampstand of pure gold before God."The lamps were to be kept lit continually, generation after generation. God called it a 'perpetual decree'. So that means that once Aaron lit the lamp, the light was not supposed to go out. Keep in mind they weren't using trick candles.
This means that one of the priests needed to be on guard 24/7 at the Tabernacle. They needed to ensure that the lamps did not go out. As they got older they would need to train the younger. When the lamps were transferred to the Temple in Solomon's day they would need to be perpetually lit. From generation to generation.
I imagine a priest during the time of King David, or later, fulfilling his duty. Most days it was all the same. Check the lamps. Add more oil. But perhaps every once in a while he would give it just a little bit more thought. He would remember reading of Moses and Aaron and recall that it was long ago that God first decreed that the lamps be lit.
I imagine he would feel very small at that moment. He was just one priest of many, fulfilling his duty. He was just one priest in a line of priests who had remained faithful at keeping the lamps lit. How awesome to ponder the many years and the many priests that had performed these same tasks, to the glory of the same God.
We are part of something much bigger than ourselves. Each of us is just one in a very long line.
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