Day 38 – October 20, 2023: Numbers 28-31 and I Corinthians 9-10

The mundane of the offerings rears its ugly face once again. The devotion, and the enormity of it, struck me this time. That’s a lot of cows and sheep and grain, and we struggle to give God 5 minutes a day in prayer! The disposition of the booty of war should be troubling as it seems very barbaric and not something that the God of love whom we worship would ever allow, but it happens.

When we get to I Corinthians we find Paul making an argument for payment to the pastors as they find themselves in the work of the Lord. It is obviously not a self-serving argument because he and Barnabas were tent makers, meaning that they had another occupation besides preaching the Gospel. If you look at 9:22b you can see a bit of the theme that I try to run on, which is: “I have become all things to all people, by which I might save some.” I love that image of being in the world and yet not of it and yet enough in it that people notice that you are a servant of the Lord and want a part of that. This falls into line with what he saysin 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do for the glory of God.” What a great driving statement.