Today's Passage: Leviticus 2

Again it is very easy to get bogged down or distracted by the specifics of the offerings that are described here in Leviticus.  The important thing to focus on is what each of these offerings were for. 

The burnt offering in Lev. 1 was the customary offering.  It was to be given regularly and was completely the Lords.  The burnt offering helped the Israelites to remember there dependance on God and the perfection of God.  We can liken it to Paul's direction to us as Christians in Romans 12:1:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Giving God our best is what He desires.  So what is the grain offering or meal offering for.  Well we can think of it sort of as our modern day love offering.  When God blesses us in abundance He often leads us to bless others, normally those that minister to us.  Often when a speaker or revival comes into town the people will gather a love offering to both honor God and bless them.  With the grain offering a portion was given to God and the rest was the priest's to sustain them. 

To give to someone in such a way that it both glorifies God, by your obedience, and blesses the person, through God's provision, truly captures the essence of what God desires us to be. 

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

- Matthew 22:36-40