Sweet Savor

I’ve learned over the years that life is just better when I give something. Even better is when what I give is a stretch.

It’s one of the great ironies of life, taught by Jesus when he said that he who loses his life shall gain it, and he who seeks life shall lose it. Call it an investment. Call it karma.

The record we have of our first parents indicates that they were commanded by God to offer sacrifice. God does not give commandments for his personal amusement or gratification. God gives commandments to his children because he knows in the long run what will be of most benefit to them. Sacrifice is one of those things.

By offering up something that is valuable to us we grow. We learn to put the higher things in their proper place. Our souls are stretched and we experience some of what God experiences. He has our eternal life in mind when he asks us to do things. One of those things is sacrifice.

From Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Jesus; God commanded his children to offer up the firstlings of the flock. Today he commands us to offer a higher, holier sacrifice. The firstlings of our flocks, so to speak, are the best and most prime fruits of our labors. We are taught that he asks that we offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

I have learned that for me, this means I need look at what is important to me and sacrifice the thing I value the most. It about more than just fulfilling an assignment or a calling. It is about asking what I have been blessed with that the Lord wants me to give and dedicate to him.

Life is most rich when I voluntarily seek an answer to this question, and of my own free will, give it to Him. The first several chapters of the Book of Leviticus teach about how the nature of sacrifice is to be voluntary. When we sacrifice to God in this manner, it is a sweet savor to Him. That phrase is used in the first part of Leviticus numerous times. A sweet savor unto the Lord.

Its not sweet to him because he is enriched by what I give to Him. Certainly nothing I have to give him is mine to give anyway. It’s already his. But when I give it to Him, it is sweet to him. His glory is to give his children eternal increase. He knows that if his children can learn to be sacrificers, they can better know and appreciate what it truly means to love.

Any parent who has received a heartfelt gift from a child knows this feeling. A sweet savor unto the Lord.