Up In Smoke

Many times in the Bible, worship is depicted as neither tame nor pretty. Some might even say it's brutal. In the Old Testament, it went hand in hand with death and required an offering—a young bull or a pair of doves or a lamb. The animal was placed on an altar, slaughtered, and then torched until nothing was left but ashes. In the New Testament, the theme of death continues: "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it" (Lk 17:33, nkjv). 

A former pastor of mine once said, "An entire life up in smoke—now that’s worship." He was referring to the act of willingly crawling up on the altar, so to speak, and dying to every desire, plan, and aspiration—big and small—until we're left with nothing that is truly our own except Jesus Himself. By losing all, we possess all. By dying, we truly live.

I want to be that kind of worshiper. I want to love God so much that I refuse to jump down off the altar when I feel the flames getting too close for comfort.

Fill in the blank: "It terrifies me that God might ask me to surrender _______________." If I were to survey a hundred women, I might get a hundred different answers—everything from "my anger toward my ex" to "coffee" to "my career." But I suspect that every single person would be able to fill in the blank. We all have those things (both sinful and good) that we hold too tightly. My prayer is that we'll spurred into surrender by the knowledge that as each detail of our lives goes up in smoke, it becomes "a sweet and satisfying fragrance to the Lord" (Lev 1:13, amp).