What We Bring to God

God Calls Us to Present Acceptable Offerings to Him

In the latter half of Leviticus 22 God addressed the subject of acceptable offerings. Animals that were lame, blind, or in some other way blemished were not to be offered to God as sacrifices. Verse 20 says, “You are not to present anything that has a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.” God was telling His people to give Him only the best—nothing second-rate or sub-standard. Why not? He is God. When we recognize His greatness and glory we give offerings that are great and glorious—the best we have.

During the lifetime of the prophet Malachi, God’s people were disobeying this command. They were bringing blind, lame, and sick animals as sacrifices. Through Malachi God reminded them they were not honoring Him by offering such sacrifices. God said they would not offer second rate gifts to their governor. They naturally respected their governor, and if they respected God they would not bring their leftovers to Him as offerings.

Vance Havner wrote a book entitled Lord of What’s Left. The title refers to the way many people treat God. They make Him the sovereign King, the Master, of their leftovers, while they take the best for themselves. “God, You are the Master, the Lord, the God of everything I don’t care about and don’t want.” We dishonor God when we give Him the leftovers instead of our best. God concludes His words about offerings by saying, “You must not profane My holy name; I must be treated as holy among the Israelites” (22:32). Profaning God’s holy name is a very serious matter. To profane God’s name is to misuse His name, to desecrate His name. God’s name represents His character; it represents God Himself, and desecrating God is a serious sin. The prophets explain that God says that He sent His people into exile to prevent them from further profaning His name (Isa 42:24–25; 43:27–28; Jer 7:30–34; 27:15; Ezek 43:8).

Sub-standard sacrifices, second-rate offerings, profane God’s name. We give Him the best, the first, and we give Him obedience because He is God. Romans 12:1 calls us to give not just our gifts but our lives to God. It says, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Have we given ourselves to God? Are we daily placing our lives on the altar as gifts to Him? That is the offering acceptable to God, and God calls us to present acceptable offerings.

Allan Moseley, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), Le 21–22.