I wrote last time about a vision Ezekiel had seen, and  continued reading through his writings. I was intrigued by the following thoughts from the first part of verse seven of chapter forty-three which says… And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.”     It is amazing to think that God’s desire has always been to live among His people. There are many pictures in this vision that are applicable to us as believers. We are told that we are the temple of the Living God as a body of believers on earth at this time…..

     God’s one great desire is that people follow him with all their heart, and mind and soul (Matthew 22:36-38). Since we see that the sacrifice for our sin has been met by Jesus Christ and that the Holy Spirit of God is now living within us, does this then let us off the hook of having to offer any further sacrifices? Can we just take this free salvation and then live our lives how we want to? No, most definitely not! What then are we expected to do?

    The first offering to give to God is to give our own selves to Him and to live for Him in a way that is honouring to Him. We are not to give way to things like bad temper, immoral living of any sort, dishonesty in  business deals or in private life, or in using bad language.. (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)    We are to have a humble attitude before God, and not demand things just because He has promised them….it may not be right for us at this time! (Psalm 51:17)    Then we are to give Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. It is so easy to complain about people and things….it just comes naturally right from childhood to say, “Not my fault, I didn’t do it!” It is a real sacrifice to have to put these complaining thoughts to one side and find something positive to say instead!  ( Psalm 107:22; Hebrews 13:15)    We are to be helpful and kind, to do good to others, and not try to be the top dog, but take the lower place. But on the other hand, we must also be ready to step forward and do our bit….it’s just as bad to say we aren’t good enough when something needs doing !  (Hebrews 13:16, and Philippians 4:18)  

    Believers are part of a holy priesthood to God by reason of our salvation, and as such, we are obligated to do the sacrifices of giving praise, living a holy life and sharing what we have with others.  (1 Peter 2:5)

God has given His only Son, We must take the work that’s done, Giving back the praise He’s due, Is what He wants us to do.

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