Why sacrifice?

Both believers of the faith and non-believers have probably wondered about the nature of sacrificial offerings to God.

In basic definition, an offering is simply when we offer up something to God. We see offerings given to God every Sunday when we set aside money to give to the church.

Besides money, however, there are many other forms of offerings we can give to God. We can offer God our time, our bodies, etc.

The book of Leviticus shows us the place of sacrificial offerings within the culture at the time. I believe that offerings have many purposes, one of those being the atonement of sin.

We serve a just, holy and righteous God. He is a god who is fair, who rules lovingly but not without consequence. Sin separates us from our holy Lord because it is drastically adverse to who He is. At the same time sin is opposed to the will of God - the way that God would have us live, think, treat others, etc. Because God is just, in order for our sins to be forgiven, He instituted that a living being that is pure and without sin, in essence, innocent, serve the punishment for our sin. In the book of Leviticus, innocent animals are the ones that pay the price for humanities failings.

Leviticus 1:4

"Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him."

...an innocent being, therefore, has to die in order for us to be made right with God again.

Sin offerings, if anything, should make us realize just how powerful sin is and just how adverse God is to sin in our lives. Sin drastically separates us from the Lord and should not be taken lightly. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sin by dying a horrible death in our place.

Food for thought: I realize how immune I am to the sin in my life. Oftentimes I sin without realizing it. The worst part is that I don't ask God for forgiveness for this sin nor do I repent. I do think it's valuable at the end of each day to do some self-reflecting and think about the sin in your life, how it affected others, God, and yourself, and think about how you can do things differently for next time.