Heb. 9:22 says, "And without the shedding of blood is no remission." Now, have you ever seen fruit bleed? Well, uh,...no. Neither have I. I John 1:7 says, "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Blood is necessary for the redemption of sins,., not fruit., nor works! Oftentimes we try to pass God off with our works, what we grew, instead of offering ourselves as a living sacrifice! We need to offer our lifestyle and purpose in life to God, willing to work and ready to go. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God." Romans 12:1 says, "....present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God." This verse also goes along with what I said earlier about how we die to ourselves and live for God. A living sacrifice it says... not a "spiritual dead" sacrifice. We need to want to work for God's purpose.

The next requirement of the sacrifice is that it should be holy. Are you living in sin? The sacrifices of the Jews were the best lamb they had, no blemishes (Gen.4:4). Sin is a blemish on our lives, how can we even think of offering God a sin pocked sacrifice? We need to forsake the world and grab onto Christ only.

The third requirement is acceptability. In your present spiritual condition, are you ready to submit., or do you have sin which you need Christ to forgive? Maybe your spiritual life isn't what it should be. But I suggest (and the Bible says so!) that we make every effort to give God our best, and make Him the priority in our life. I suggest that you talk to your pastor about it (and talk to God about it the most) and try and straighten things out with God.

Finally, we should ask ourselves whether we are giving God "fruit" sacrifices, or a "lamb".

continued...