30 August 2021
Libation
2 Timothy 4:6
As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.
The Drink Offering is the one that is poured out. All the other sacrifices in the Old Testament had some sort of shared consumption aspect, but the Drink Offering was poured out and not used by anyone–seemingly “wasted.” My African Studies professor in college talked about “libation” and similar tribal practices where drinks are ceremoniously poured out on the ground for the people being remembered. Recently, the internet had a viral picture last week of a restaurant with 13 chairs with 13 beers at an empty table commemorating the 13 servicemen who just died tragically in Afghanistan. Those beers eventually got poured down a drain; no one ever drank them. But every American understands that it was most certainly not a waste of beer.
When Paul talks about his life being a Drink Offering, it means he gives everything of himself to the One he serves. Some would look at his life and see it being a total waste looking at all he had accomplished in the past and all he gave up. But the same man who described his life a Drink Offering also wrote this: So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58) If everything I do for the Lord is never useless, then giving him my life as a drink offering is no waste of time, talent, or resources at all.
Paul also wrote: Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Colossians 3:23) Regular people might not understand why Believers do what we do; it looks like a waste to them. Serving at church every Sunday seems like a waste of a perfectly good day off. Not getting even with people who are mean seems like we let people “walk all over us.” And seeking God’s will in all we do is constantly misunderstood as backwards and irrelevant for modern times. But it is not. For those who follow Jesus, we choose to give our lives back to the One who gave his life or us.
So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Dear God,
Help me remember that I willingly give my life as an offering to YOU. My goals are not to get you to do things for me but for me to be shown by you how to serve you today. Help me go places and have conversations that are lead by you and not of a personal or worldly agenda. I love you and thank you for all you have done for me, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Libation
2 Timothy 4:6
As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.
The Drink Offering is the one that is poured out. All the other sacrifices in the Old Testament had some sort of shared consumption aspect, but the Drink Offering was poured out and not used by anyone–seemingly “wasted.” My African Studies professor in college talked about “libation” and similar tribal practices where drinks are ceremoniously poured out on the ground for the people being remembered. Recently, the internet had a viral picture last week of a restaurant with 13 chairs with 13 beers at an empty table commemorating the 13 servicemen who just died tragically in Afghanistan. Those beers eventually got poured down a drain; no one ever drank them. But every American understands that it was most certainly not a waste of beer.
When Paul talks about his life being a Drink Offering, it means he gives everything of himself to the One he serves. Some would look at his life and see it being a total waste looking at all he had accomplished in the past and all he gave up. But the same man who described his life a Drink Offering also wrote this: So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58) If everything I do for the Lord is never useless, then giving him my life as a drink offering is no waste of time, talent, or resources at all.
Paul also wrote: Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Colossians 3:23) Regular people might not understand why Believers do what we do; it looks like a waste to them. Serving at church every Sunday seems like a waste of a perfectly good day off. Not getting even with people who are mean seems like we let people “walk all over us.” And seeking God’s will in all we do is constantly misunderstood as backwards and irrelevant for modern times. But it is not. For those who follow Jesus, we choose to give our lives back to the One who gave his life or us.
So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Dear God,
Help me remember that I willingly give my life as an offering to YOU. My goals are not to get you to do things for me but for me to be shown by you how to serve you today. Help me go places and have conversations that are lead by you and not of a personal or worldly agenda. I love you and thank you for all you have done for me, and I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
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