A Christian And His/Her Altar.

A Christian And His/Her Altar.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Romans 12:1-2, Leviticus 6: 12-13.

Who is a Christian?

A Christian is someone that has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. He has the life of Christ in him, and others can see the attributes or characteristics of Christ in his/her life. Therefore, a Christian is a believer living the life of Christ. The “ian” after Christ means, CHRIST I AM NOTHING.

Can we say that everyone with a bible name is a Christian and that everyone going to church is a Christian? Does being born into a Christian home guarantee you are a Christian? Furthermore, one that marries a Christian, does that make him/her a Christian too?

The answer to all of these questions is NO.

What is an altar?

1 Kings 18:31-33 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the son of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones He built an altar in the name of the LORD: and He made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And He put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

An altar is a place where sacrifice is made. Speaking from the Scriptural parlance, an altar is a place where divinity meets humanity.

• The components of an altar include:

1. The wood

2. The offering

3. The stone

4. The fire.

All these things portray a spiritual meaning. However, the concentration is on the fire. The stone, the woods, and the offering must be x-rayed by the fire. We are the sacrifice for the altar. Our lives must continually be on fire for God.

Note that every offering or sacrifice must be dead before placing it on the altar.  However, we are a living sacrifice which denotes that if there’s no deliberate stay on the altar, we might choose to walk away, No wonder we are being appealed to.

•  How do we know when there’s fire on the altar?

The fat will be consumed. Fats are excesses in our lives. We can liken it to weight and sin. Any Christian who celebrates or enjoys sins has walked away from the altar.

The fire on the altar burns out the fat. The fats aren’t good for the offering. It’s just like yeast, it also denotes hypocrisy. That’s why people who buy cattle examine the neck and back of the animal they want to buy and not the stomach.

• What happens when the fat is not burned:

Deuteronomy 32: 15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then He forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. There’s a tendency to forget God when we’re full of fat. This is the reason why we need to stay on the altar continually.

• Why do we need to be on the altar?

Genesis 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

We have to stay on the altar because there are distractions here and there that want us to go against God and rebel. And we have to drive away the vultures in the place of concentration and consistency in our altar. In addition, our altar is our place of making. It was recorded of Samuel that he died and was buried at Ramah, This was because he built his altar there.

A Christian must not joke with his or her altar if he or she wants to please God.

• The following are altars we must burn incessantly:

The altar of prayer

The altar of the Word- Acts 6:4

The altar of fasting

The altar of giving

The altar of reading Christ-centered books – Daniel 9:2

The altar of fellowship

The altar of reaching out to lost soul (evangelism)

The altar of Faith.

We must add wood to ensure it burns. Don’t add the fire, it’s not in your purview so as not to be like Nadab and Abihu. The Holy Spirit will light it, Yours is just to burn and pack out the ashes on the altar.

Brethren, let me conclude that the life of the Christian will not be able to burn and shine for Christ without being on the altar. There’s no successful Christian that is without an altar of prayer and fellowship with God. You can’t abandon the altar and please God. This is beyond any theory or philosophy, it’s something one needs to really understand and practice consistently to successfully navigate the journey of faith.

John 5: 35- He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.