the cost of life

So, I'm currently working on reading through Leviticus and let me just say, the Old Testament absolutely fascinates me. Sometimes it gets a little boring, but I like the challenge. I try to pull something out of every chapter that I read, and a lot of times by doing that, I go back to parts that I would have normally just skipped over, and end up finding so much insight in them by simply analyzing them from a different point of view. The last couple days I read Leviticus 18 & 19. I found that in these 2 chapters alone, there are 21 quotes of God Himself saying "I am the Lord" or "I am the Lord your God." I guess God really wanted to get that point across, at least.

I also found this:

"When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God."
~ Leviticus 19:23-25

Now, at first glance this just looks like instructions that God is giving the people regarding their crop. Nothing special. But I urge you to look deeper with me. First God is saying that He wants the people to plant crop. He asks the people to do this not only for Him, but for themselves as well. The people will work for the Lord, but He says they are to also do this for food. They will benefit from this work as well. Then the Lord tells them not to eat it right away, but instead to regard the fruit as "forbidden" for three years. Then on the fourth year to devote the fruit to the Lord and not eat it. Finally in the fifth year of having their crop they were instructed to eat it. Can you imagine spending all that time and energy planting, sowing, and taking care of a crop, and not even being allowed to use it at all until the fifth year? This is a parallel to the Christian life.

God gives us instructions every day, whether it is the basic commands He gives us in His word, or whether it is an individual calling or leading that He gives us personally. God is asking us to do something, He is asking us to live for Him. Have you accepted that calling or leading from God? Whether specific or not, He asks every one of His people to live for Him and to glorify Him. So what are we doing to do that?

These verses tell us that God wants everything in our lives. He wants us to work for Him, seek to glorify Him in what we do by following Him. He may ask of us something that doesn't make sense, like growing a crop for 5 years before we can even touch the final product, and use it for our benefit. He said He will benefit us, but it will be on His terms. We will have to put all of our strength and energy into working for Him, but may not reap any benefits for years. Living for God will cost us. It may cost us all different things, but He is the Lord our God. He asks us to live for Him in everything that we do. Whether right now we see the point or not, there is one. We simply need to obey Him, seek to glorify Him in everything we do, and have faith that our work for Him is not in vain.

There is a cost for life. Luckily, Jesus already paid it on the cross.