May 19, 2003 Monday
The Broken Altar

"Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me...And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down" - 1 Kings 18:30

In the Old Testament God instructed true worshippers to establish two types of altars that would be critical to acceptable worship, the altar of sacrifice and the altar of incense.....and true worship to this very day can rise to God only from a person who has such an altar set upon their own heart for continual sacrifice and prayer to God. "We have an altar..." (Hebrews 13:10) We know the greatest altar ever built was one upon which the sin of all mankind was placed...where Jesus Christ Himself was nailed and lifted up as a perfect burnt-offering...the cross of Calvary. We fear the altar though because we know too well in our hearts what is required to follow Christ and we hear Him say, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." (Mark 8:34) The demand is that we take up our own cross, that is, our own personal altar upon which our lives must be laid down and lifted up as an acceptable sacrifice, yet we find that to be highly unacceptable in our souls. Some today have constructed such an altar in their life, but many look back later to an altar that has been torn down and given over to the ways of the world. Before Elijah could demonstrate who God truly was he had to repair the altar which God's people had allowed to be given over to sin and idolatry. Has your heart been built up as an altar to Christ, and Christ alone? If so, is it still standing, or has it been torn down and given over to something else which has become more important than Jesus Himself?