When my heart has been prepared by the Spirit,  I willingly sacrifice an offering, not ritualistically as the Old Testament sacrifices of the Lamb,  but voluntarily, as a result of my heart restoration.  

 

My non-blood sacrifice to the LORD is my time—the hours in my day, represented by the embossed numbers which almost disappear in the gray bottom third of the painting.   I have the same number of hours as anyone else, but the choices I make in how I spend those hours are crucial to my inward life and worship.   Do I spend less time sleeping?  Less time being entertained?  Less time procrastinating?  Less time complaining and being critical? 

 

The sacrifices in the Old Testament were made with fire….they were burned up on the altar  leaving ashes and the smoke going upward was a sweet aroma to God.    Every day I make choices that affect my life.  The hours can never be lived over or changed.   I have found those hours to be very precious and I’m more mindful of how I burn them.

 

Watercolor on paper 

God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth .  John 4:24