Hold Nothing Back

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HOLD NOTHING BACK

1 Kings 8:62-66

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD. 64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. 65 So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him — a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

NIV

This was a lot of cattle and sheep, a hundred and forty-two thousand animals killed, slathered, cut up, taking all the fat off the meat to save for another offering. How many priests were needed to do all that butchering, and how long must it have taken?  Solomon was not holding anything back in his dedication of the temple he built in the name of the LORD. He offered so much that he had to move out into the courtyard because the rest of his offerings were too large for the bronze altar to hold. We wonder if we even come close to offering the Lord what He is due in our dedication of the temple of the Holy Spirit. Have we given Him all, or have we held something of ourselves back for our own purposes or plans? Again, it comes down to our focus. Do we focus on the Lord, or do we focus on ourselves, or maybe we try to share our focus between Him and ourselves? It seems we look to fulfilling our own sense of right or wanting our own way in our relationship with the Lord and with other people.  Why do we hold back instead of being all in? Is that our human nature? Are we flawed that much? Indeed, Solomon, being a man, had other moments besides all these offerings to the LORD during the dedication of the temple. Our lives are also filled with daily activities that are not a part of our offering to the Lord, yet we are supposed to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord. How do we become that living sacrifice if we maintain our focus on those daily activities? Should not all we do in life be somehow connected with being a living sacrifice? How do we lose our patience or become upset because of what someone said or did? Why do we get our feelings hurt over the little things in life? Why do we hold back part of our offering to the Lord? How can we have a joyful heart if we are not filled with the joy of the Lord? Let us make a greater effort always to be that living sacrifice, holding nothing back.