March 16, 2002
The Wasted Offering
Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up, the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered/ the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-all the trees of the field-are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away. Joel 1:8-12
The grain is the bread that Jesus said to take, eat, this is my body and the drink offering is his blood, in that we are told to drink the cup for this is his blood. Now, if we still do observe communion, how is it that the offerings have been cut off from the house of the Lord? Sin! How many priests or pastors do you know that truly mourn over the lack of the harvest? How many people wail because the vine is not producing fruit? How many of us even realize that this is not what the Christian life is supposed to be? We argue among ourselves over the petty things, such as doctrine and theology. We have encamped in many camps, rather than one camp of the Lord. We have separated one believer from another by the lines of denomination. We have lost the joy that should be the hallmark of all believers. To put this in simple terms, we have lost that first love that we once held of the Lord Jesus. I am not sure that some have even experienced that first love. How could one experience the riches of the walk of faith and not mourn when they no longer experience it?
The fig tree withered away when Jesus commanded that no one would ever eat from the fruit thereof again. (Mark 11). In the book of the Revelation, the church of Laodicea is told they are lukewarm and in danger of being spewed from the mouth of the Lord. That same spirit is rampant today. We go to church, we sit, we go home and we do not put into practice what the word of the Lord says. We do not cry out on the behalf of those souls that are lost. We do not notice that the harvest has withered away. We say that we will eat, drink and be merry for things are good. Yet, things are not good! The house of the Lord has become barren. We are not experiencing the harvest that we should. We have forgotten that we are fishers of men. We do not care when the fields wither for lack of those who harvest. Mourn, oh church! Weep, Oh bride! The bridegroom is coming and we must not be found lacking!
Father, in Jesus name, I see such an apathy around me and yet we do not even realize it is an apathy. Father, you sent your son to pour forth the offering grain and the wine and yet we seem indifferent to what he has done. You have provided a new way, a better way, and yet we sit as the Pharisees and the Sadducees did. We sit and cry, “Look at us, we are holy,” and yet we sit in the filth of the pigpen. Father, in Jesus name show us our true state. Bring upon us that spirit of repentance and return us to our first love. Prepare us for the battle that is coming. Make us holy and pure before you, in Jesus name, amen.
All rights reserved: Amy Seelbach
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