The Currency of Your Heart

Passage: Leviticus 1-3

This year my kids have started to grasp the concept of money.  Our oldest daughter lost her first tooth, and got her first dollar.  Both girls have started earning money for doing chores around the house.  And both express great interest in money.  That being said, money is still an abstract concept for them.  They leave their dollar bills lying around the house.  They don’t go to the store often, so haven’t had many opportunities to exchange their money for anything meaningful.  Money isn’t really their primary form of currency.  What is?  Candy.  Candy makes their world go round.  They would give anything, up to and including one of their parents, for candy.  They don’t get it that often, so when they do they savor it, guard it, count it, and hoard it.

Last week was Valentine’s Day, and one of the ways we celebrated our love as a family was candy.  Few things have ever warmed my heart more than what my kids did with their candy during the week.  One afternoon my wife and kids were out together, and stopped to get treats out of a vending machine.  My older daughter chose peanut butter cups; my younger daughter chose chewy fruit snacks.  The fruit snacks turned out not to be as good as advertised, and my younger daughter was very disappointed.  Without prompting, my older daughter volunteered to give her sister a peanut butter cup – half her treat.  Later in the week we had our Valentine’s Day meal, and gave the girls each a little heart-shaped box of chocolates.  My younger daughter saw that I wasn’t eating any candy, and immediately offered me some of hers. 

In and of themselves neither of these offerings was particularly significant – a few cents’ worth of candy.  But they represented sacrifices of the currency that is closest to my kids’ hearts.  And both kids offered their candy not out of duty or the promise of anything in return, but out of regard for someone they love.  As their parent, nothing pleases me more than these displays of generosity, love and trust.  They gave because there was something more valuable to them than candy.  And they gave trusting that there would be enough.

The Book of Leviticus begins with instructions.  God gives detailed instructions to his people about how to make sacrifices.  And sacrifices – of livestock and grain – are identified as the primary expression of the worship of God’s people.  Why is this?  Is it because God needs food?  Perish the thought.  Is it because God wants his people to go without?  Never – he provides relentlessly and abundantly.  So what’s the deal with the sacrifices?  Livestock and food are the currency of his people’s heart.  These represent life, and the guarantee of a future.  God consistently commands that his people give up the means of life – both to him, and to those in need.  God does so to remind his people that there are more important things in life.  Their relationships – with God, and with each other – are more valuable and life-sustaining than their food, their land, or their money.  And the people’s willingness to give that stuff up demonstrates the most important thing: their trust in God, and their love for him.

What’s the currency of your heart?  Do you trust God to give you enough?  So much so that you’re willing to give it up?  Take stock, and consider what sacrifice God is inviting you to make.