Day 54: Numbers 3 – 4

Saturday, February 27th

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%203-4&version=NIV

The Priests of the Lord
The Firstborns are mine

Now these are the records of Aaron and Moses when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests.

"Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine,13 "because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD."Num 3:12-13

One day, I gave $20 to my son Richard for school lunch money and said to him, “ Richard, use $10.00 to credit your school lunch account and bring the remaining $10.00 home. Richard said, “OK, Mom”.

That afternoon my son came back from school with a big smile on his face and he showed me a new kid’s book. He said, “Mom, I just bought this book from the school bookstore”. “I’ve been waiting forever to get this book”. I interrupted, “Wait a minute, how did you pay for this book? “ Richard said, “I paid with money from the change from my lunch money and I thought you would happy because you love when I read a book. Guess what I told my son? I said, "That money belonged to me and you cannot spend money which isn't yours even for a good reason without my permission." This might sound cold but I had to teach my son some discipline. You cannot spend money that doesn’t belong to you and go against my commands even if you think it is for a good reason.

God called the Levites to be Priesthood, and said to Moses: every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal belongs to the Lord. That means every first thing we have should to be given back to the Lord.

Many Christians bless by giving and helping others but what we are reading here is different. We have to acknowledge that everything we have is the Lord’s: time, money, health, talents, family, jobs..etc. Everything we have comes from God for He is Lord.

In my country, Korea, we have a beautiful family culture and it is very biblical. In our culture we are taught to honor our parents and especially our father as the head of the family. At the dinner table, the food is prepared first for the father. He gets the freshest portion of the food. No one starts to eat until he starts to eat. When the food is served, he gets the first piece. This is just one example of honoring our earthly parents.

How are we honoring our Heavenly Father?

When we bring our tithe or 10 percent is it out of duty or because of the law? You can help others and donate to many different causes but you don’t feel you want to give your tithe to your church. Today, I want to encourage every one to take a moment and meditate upon the meaning of the tithe. If you are calling God as your Heavenly Father and He is Lord, you must remember that everything we have belongs to God and he is letting us keep the remaining 90 percent.

It is a blessings to be able to use the remaining 90 percent after giving God our first 10 percent. We don’t do this because of the law but we do it with a sincere and thankful heart. When we come to the Lord with our offering, we have to bring the best and first fruits. This is not just with our money or income but is also with our time, talent and health. I want to challenge all of you to offer everything we have to the Lord

Submitted by Abrianna Amaris