The Sacrifice

All over the Old Testament, you find people worshipping other gods in the high places.  Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, Zeus, and others have alters placed on hills and mountains where they would make sacrifices to these false gods.  They would even sacrifice their own children to satisfy these abominations.

There is always a cost in serving them and there is a cost today as well for serving our gods. The gods of money, pleasure, beauty, power, comfort, success, a person, a job, entertainment, and even yourself all have a cost to serve them.  Anything you put first in your life is your god and it will demand a sacrifice of some sort.

You might have to sacrifice your health for your god, or perhaps your marriage.  People sacrifice their integrity, time, family, peace of mind, self-worth, and even their lives to their gods.  The cost is always something good and wholesome for something ungodly and self-centered.

God also has an alter but the difference is that on the Alter of God, God was sacrificed.  Instead of a man sacrificing to God, God gave Himself up as a sacrifice for man.   When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he became the universal sacrifice for all men.  With that sacrifice, He bought salvation and righteousness for us.  The only sacrifice we can now make is of ourselves to Him.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sister, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

Photo credit: Belize- Altun Ha -Sacrificial Alter by SnugglePilot