dar334

I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend.  She is my special sister in Christ.  My goal is to eventually have the faith she carries in her heart through the hardest times of life.  She watched the love of her life suffer and die too early in life.  Just when they were able to reap the benefits of working hard their entire life, after raising two amazing children and watching them grow in to responsible adults,  cancer took her husband at the age of 56.  Her faith got her through it.

It’s been too long since we spent time together.  Too long.  The poor young waitress in Applebee’s had nothing but patience when we weren’t ready to order for probably an hour.  She patiently kept our glasses full and waited for us to pick up our menus.  As usual when we are together, we laughed and we cried.  Well, it was more like our eyes filled up with tears, and they sometimes needed to be blotted, but sometimes in order to heal we need to weep.  Tears are like salve on a painful hurt.  They are a release of pressure.  Of anxiety.  There is nothing that compares with the release of that pressure when it’s with a true friend.

After our meal, the waitress offered us dessert.  We chose to share the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate syrup drizzled over the entire plate.  And I know what you’re thinking, this is where the title of this blog comes in to play.  The “fat” part.  Nope.  It’s different fat I’ve been pondering all day.

I’m always on alert for something to ponder about, something to lose myself in for a few minutes that is actually beneficial.  With the recent passing of Reverend Billy Graham, I’ve had the desire to learn more about him.  Hearing a story from our daughter recently about a young Billy Graham visiting the home of John Wesley, I found myself on YouTube to listen to some of his sermons.  After my morning in the Quiet Room with God I came in the house to do some sewing.  I pulled up YouTube on my iPad and found a sermon titled “Three Things You Cannot Do Without” by Reverend Graham.  Listening as I sewed, I found my topic …………. THE FAT!

Now you may think I must have landed on a Richard Simmons video but it seriously was Billy Graham, and no, “fat” isn’t one of the things you cannot do without.  Blood was the first of the three things and if you’re patient, you will find out how I tie “fat” into the ponder with “blood”.

In the book of Genesis, chapter 4, we learn about the children of Adam and Eve.

Cain and Abel

4  Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.  She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

The book goes on to tell us that Cain was so jealous that God liked the offering of his brother Abel more than he liked his, he killed him.  Our first murder.  Murder because of jealousy.  Two of the Ten Commandants, two of the sins we are not to do.

The first time a study had me read the story of Cain and Abel, I was baffled by why God would prefer fat over vegtebles.  I’ve asked about it more than once and never quite got an answer that satisfied my curiosity.  I’ve been led to believe the most aromatic scent from the burning of the sacrifice was the fat of the animal.  I’ve been told that because God didn’t go in to detail in his Instruction Book that it wasn’t important, it wasn’t the message He was trying to get across.  I was told that I may never know.  But thankfully, by listening to this 37 minute sermon from Reverand Graham, he was able to satisfy my curiosity.

From the book of Hebrews 9:22  In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

From the book of Leviticus 17:11  For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

The offering had to come from the shedding of blood.  The fruit of the ground that Cain brought the Lord didn’t require bloodshed.   But the offering of fat from the first born of his flock that Abel offered to God required bloodshed.  The blood of the animal that was sacrificed in order for the fat to be given.  The key words here – first born and sacrifice.

From the very first, the very beginning, God required bloodshed to atone for our sins.  God offered us his firstborn, his son, Jesus Christ.  His perfect son shed His blood for the atonement of our sins, once and for all.  For all.  Everyone.

I hope you find time this Lenten Season to stop and thank God.  Your sins are not only forgiven, they are forgotten.

Now as for the other two things we cannot do without, you will just have to listen to the sermon.  It’s on YouTube.

What will be my next ponder?  I don’t know yet. It hasn’t yet stopped me dead in my tracks.

-dar