Welcome to Spirit Bread
Spiritual Bread for the Spirit Bred
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His onlyh begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16 - NKJV)
SPIRIT BREAD WEEKLY
LAZY FIRE
By Jerry D. Ousley
By Jerry D. Ousley
Lazy Fire
By Jerry D. Ousley
God is holy. In the Old Testament outward displays of respect to God’s holiness were required of His chosen people. He had set up Moses’ older brother, Aaron, as the high priest. He, along with his sons, had the responsibility of the sacrificial part of their worship, as well as making sure the candles in the tabernacle were lit, the bread for show was fresh each week and that fire from the burnt altar was placed on the altar of incense.
Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were responsible for taking care of the altar of incense on a particular evening, and thinking they would save some time, took in fire that was not taken from the altar, to burn the incense. This is not what God had told them to do. As a result, fire from God fell upon them and they were burned to death.
God told Aaron, “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified,” (Leviticus 10:3). When God told him this the Bible further tells us that Aaron held his peace. Was he sad that his sons were dead and that he was forbidden to mourn for them? Of course he was. It seems on the surface that God was being mean to Aaron.
But all things God does are for a purpose. All the laws, rules and regulations of the Old Testament existed to show how man was supposed to act and live in order to be worthy of worshipping the one and only all-powerful God. Only a handful even came close. Most miserably failed.
Some think that because later in this chapter, God instructed Aaron that neither he nor any of the priesthood, were to do their service while drinking, that Nadab and Abihu might have been drunk. Perhaps they were. We aren’t told for sure. But one thing is certain, they thought they could get away with taking a shortcut. They paid for it with their lives!
If you are like me, I can hear someone echoing my own words, “If I had been there, I certainly wouldn’t have done that.” But, are we sure? It’s a cinch that we have often failed God. My money would be on, “I would have probably have done it too.” How do I know? Well, I will just have to tell on myself. When I was a chaplain assistant in the U.S. army, stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington Virginia, I took my own shortcut. As a chaplain assistant, it was part of my duties to support both Protestant and Catholic congregations. Being raised as a Protestant, I didn’t know a lot about Catholic practices and traditions.
Holy water is a big thing in the Catholic Church. But holy water doesn’t just miraculously appear. It requires filling a large container called an urn. Once filled, the priest is to come in to the room and bless the water. Upon his blessing it is suddenly transformed into holy water. There was just one problem in the chapel at Fort Myer. While the Catholic priest was very dutiful, he was also so busy that it took days to get him to take time to bless the water and change it into holy water. Being a resourceful fellow, I took it upon myself to sneak into the chamber once a week, and “top off” the holy water urn. Maybe I could explain it by telling them that what I added would extend the life of the holy water, and touching the holy water would somehow make the addition holy also.
Thankfully, I never had to explain myself. While I was stationed there that urn never ran dry. Perhaps the people of the Catholic congregation felt God was miraculously keeping the urn filled. But most likely, no one thought anything about it. No one ever asked and until I was honorably discharged from the army, I told no one else. My apologies to our Catholic friends.
But I had taken a shortcut. I bypassed the priest. Honestly, I don’t for one minute take stock that the priest’s blessing suddenly turned the common tap water into a pure holy water. But that isn’t the point. I took a shortcut. Had I been caught I could have been severely disciplined for deceiving the Catholic congregations.
When we take shortcuts like that, we are just being lazy. Nadab and Abihu had been lazy too, and had gotten fire in a lazy way. Again, they paid for it. Now God may not kill us or send fire down from Heaven to burn us to death when we are lazy, but we will pay in other ways. We can’t be lazy when it comes to service for God.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to worshipping God. There are no shortcuts when it comes to spending time in prayer. There are no shortcuts when it comes to serving the Lord. We must give Him our all. We must not be lazy but diligent in our relationship with our Father.
Let’s not be guilty of using lazy fire. Instead, let’s not take shortcuts but dutifully serve our God.
By Jerry D. Ousley
God is holy. In the Old Testament outward displays of respect to God’s holiness were required of His chosen people. He had set up Moses’ older brother, Aaron, as the high priest. He, along with his sons, had the responsibility of the sacrificial part of their worship, as well as making sure the candles in the tabernacle were lit, the bread for show was fresh each week and that fire from the burnt altar was placed on the altar of incense.
Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were responsible for taking care of the altar of incense on a particular evening, and thinking they would save some time, took in fire that was not taken from the altar, to burn the incense. This is not what God had told them to do. As a result, fire from God fell upon them and they were burned to death.
God told Aaron, “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified,” (Leviticus 10:3). When God told him this the Bible further tells us that Aaron held his peace. Was he sad that his sons were dead and that he was forbidden to mourn for them? Of course he was. It seems on the surface that God was being mean to Aaron.
But all things God does are for a purpose. All the laws, rules and regulations of the Old Testament existed to show how man was supposed to act and live in order to be worthy of worshipping the one and only all-powerful God. Only a handful even came close. Most miserably failed.
Some think that because later in this chapter, God instructed Aaron that neither he nor any of the priesthood, were to do their service while drinking, that Nadab and Abihu might have been drunk. Perhaps they were. We aren’t told for sure. But one thing is certain, they thought they could get away with taking a shortcut. They paid for it with their lives!
If you are like me, I can hear someone echoing my own words, “If I had been there, I certainly wouldn’t have done that.” But, are we sure? It’s a cinch that we have often failed God. My money would be on, “I would have probably have done it too.” How do I know? Well, I will just have to tell on myself. When I was a chaplain assistant in the U.S. army, stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington Virginia, I took my own shortcut. As a chaplain assistant, it was part of my duties to support both Protestant and Catholic congregations. Being raised as a Protestant, I didn’t know a lot about Catholic practices and traditions.
Holy water is a big thing in the Catholic Church. But holy water doesn’t just miraculously appear. It requires filling a large container called an urn. Once filled, the priest is to come in to the room and bless the water. Upon his blessing it is suddenly transformed into holy water. There was just one problem in the chapel at Fort Myer. While the Catholic priest was very dutiful, he was also so busy that it took days to get him to take time to bless the water and change it into holy water. Being a resourceful fellow, I took it upon myself to sneak into the chamber once a week, and “top off” the holy water urn. Maybe I could explain it by telling them that what I added would extend the life of the holy water, and touching the holy water would somehow make the addition holy also.
Thankfully, I never had to explain myself. While I was stationed there that urn never ran dry. Perhaps the people of the Catholic congregation felt God was miraculously keeping the urn filled. But most likely, no one thought anything about it. No one ever asked and until I was honorably discharged from the army, I told no one else. My apologies to our Catholic friends.
But I had taken a shortcut. I bypassed the priest. Honestly, I don’t for one minute take stock that the priest’s blessing suddenly turned the common tap water into a pure holy water. But that isn’t the point. I took a shortcut. Had I been caught I could have been severely disciplined for deceiving the Catholic congregations.
When we take shortcuts like that, we are just being lazy. Nadab and Abihu had been lazy too, and had gotten fire in a lazy way. Again, they paid for it. Now God may not kill us or send fire down from Heaven to burn us to death when we are lazy, but we will pay in other ways. We can’t be lazy when it comes to service for God.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to worshipping God. There are no shortcuts when it comes to spending time in prayer. There are no shortcuts when it comes to serving the Lord. We must give Him our all. We must not be lazy but diligent in our relationship with our Father.
Let’s not be guilty of using lazy fire. Instead, let’s not take shortcuts but dutifully serve our God.