Articles
Priests of the Lord
Upon reflection, how often do we find ourselves being annoyed or frustrated as we go throughout our day? Does our reflection on our behavior match the way we feel a priest should act, let alone the way God says a priest should act?
In Leviticus 21:6 it tells us that priests during the days of the ancient Israelites acted as a mediator between God and the nation of Israel. Under God’s new covenant through the blood of our Lord, we are gifted with such amazing opportunities as priests. Not only are we able to mediate our own relationships with God, but we also are gifted with the prospect of mediating between God and the world.
In the young adults’ study at West Mason, we read Hosea. Many people were surprised to hear it, but it is good that we did, for there is a verse in Hosea that talks about how God's people should not be a “flat loaf not turned over” (Hosea 7:8). The book of Hosea talks about the sin and forthcoming discipline God is to have over the city of Ephraim, due to them worshipping false idols, committing murder, and other sins against God. How good does an unbaked loaf taste? Has it reached its full potential? What would happen if it was turned over, only partially baked?
The answers to these questions can be applied not only to our individual relationships with God but also our relationship tothe world. As individuals, Paul in 2 Corinthians 13 reminds us that we should test and reflect upon our thoughts and actions because Christ Jesus is among us. But if we should stumble, Paul reminds us as well that leaning on God in prayer and His teachings can restore us. He also gives us each other, a family through His mercy and love, so that we can be encouraged and lifted up in this life instead of being torn down.
We ought to remember this in our dealings with the world as well, that they are “loaves half baked.” We have to not just see the sin inside but we have to see them for the potential they have if they were to be a loaf risen and fully baked. They are souls to be saved, not sin to be discarded. Because Jesus said, "go and learn the meaning of, 'I desire mercy not a sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners" (Matthew 9:13). Later on in Matthew 9 it is mentioned how as Jesus traveled and taught in the synagogues he had compassion for the crowds, healing the sick and dying, because the crowds who followed Him were harassed helpless sheep without a shepherd.
Are you having compassion towards yourself and others? Are you thinking and acting as a priest of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit should? Are you being a true worker of God, calling on Him among the plentiful harvest in the field of the world (Matthew 9: 37-38)?
