Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 7:22-27

22 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.

24 And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.

25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people.

26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.

27 Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

These verses repeat God’s commandment to not eat the blood or the fat of any animal. We have heard about this before, and I mentioned then that the blood and the fat seem symbolic of life and passion, and that these were forces too powerful for us to manage on our own, and which could only be properly managed when offered to God.

I’d like to expand that further by saying that eating blood and fat could be symbolically seen as consuming oneself. It is creating a loop of just one entity: the self. The self makes the demands of self-gratification, and the self devotes itself to that purpose, becoming both worshipped and worshipper in one. This is a self-terminating cycle that will bear no fruit and achieve no outside purpose.

This is, I would say, the greatest temptation that besets all mankind. Selfishness is the root of most every sin, and we all fall to it to some degree, even though we see that it is trended towards a quiet, lonely, grossly indulgent death.

God gave each of us tremendous gifts and it would be a waste to channel them back to the self, where no one else can ever see or benefit from them. That would be like taking a light and hiding it under a bushel.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Thought for the Day- Choosing to Surrender Choice

Overcoming our bad habits often requires removing the element of choice. We make a commitment to not do the bad habit anymore, and thus the choice is already made and doesn’t have to be made again.

But then, a little later, we make an exception and indulge in the habit. Or perhaps we decide that we will engage in the behavior to some degree, if not all the way. At this point we have created the option to do the behavior to some extent if the conditions are right. So now it becomes a matter of judgment again. The borders have been blurred, and from that point on, we must debate whether each successive situation warrants getting to indulge in the bad habit again or not. Thus, our bad habit has once again become a matter of choice. And this is why we give up on our commitments shortly after making them.

We should set our commitments, refuse to make exceptions, and remove the element of choice.