Crayons For Jesus


Sunday, January 18, 2009 Print E-mail
We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. Hebrews 13:10

This section in chapter 13 of the book of Hebrews concerns sacrifices pleasing to God. It reinforces the theological foundations we are all familiar with: brotherly love, faithfulness to God, purity and sexual morality, avoiding the evil of the love of money, and et cetera. This verse is an interesting one. It is the reason why we must do such things.

The altar from which we get our food, that which sustains us, is God. His Holy Spirit’s fruit is what enables us to live free and to live fully. We must serve Him and continue to serve Him in order to continue to eat from this altar.  We need to recognize that the altar we can eat from is just not any altar. It is not open to just anyone. There are many who cannot eat from this altar because of their own sin and their own lack of faith. They are those who serve the tent.

Those who serve the tent refers to unbelievers. Remember how the apostle Paul referred to the body as a tent in the book of Romans. Those who serve the tent are the unbelievers who are ruled by the passions of their bodies. Because they are ruled by these passions they have the fruit of it: the greed that is never satisfied, the corruption that entangles, the dissatisfaction and defeat of the flesh, the immorality that condemns, and so on.

They are unlike us. We were once like them. But we now have access to the altar of God’s goodness. We once did not have the right to eat or experience the good fruits of the Spirit. When we served our tent and were entrapped by it, we had no right.

The moment we became believers and forfeited our tently curse for the eternal calling of our souls by God, His grace unlocked the room that housed this altar. We did not earn this access by our own deeds, but by the grace and salvation offered by Christ.

Recognize the good that comes from the altar of God and daily take from it. Go into that quiet room where it is just you and God and trust that your sin has been washed away, that your cry will be heard, that your hurts will be healed, that you will be guided, and that you will leave full again of the goodness of God.

Do not accept the emptiness of the tent and do not believe you are bound anymore to the curse of that tent for the day Christ came into your life, you were transformed from a tent into a saint. Partake in that which you now have access to and taste and see that it is good!

Father God,
You have transformed us from a life of emptiness and saved us from the fruits of our sinful flesh. You offer an alternative and the best alternative to a defeated and wasted life. Thank you for the access we have to your altar brought by your precious son. He is the one who has bridged the gap between us. And He is the one who intercedes on our behalf. Help us to spend time with You and to take from this altar daily. We invite you to work in our lives and ask that you show us the goodness of the fruits of your Holy Spirit. Help us to continue our walk to you daily and increase the fruit of your Spirit in our lives so that we might live full and free and so that others might also recognize your glory. To You be all praise, Amen.