The One Sacrifice He Still Asks For
Day 63 · Leviticus 3:1-5 · 17 July 2026
📖 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Leviticus 3:1-5 (NIV)
“‘If someone’s offering is a fellowship offering, and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he is to present before the Lord an animal without defect. He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood against the altar on all sides. From the fellowship offering he is to bring a sacrifice made to the Lord by fire: all the fat that covers the inner parts or is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat around them near the loins, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.'”
Today’s John 15 thread: There is a kind of fruit that the branch bears toward God, not outward toward others. Praise is that fruit. It does not make the branch look productive in the eyes of people — it is not a visible accomplishment. But it is what flows naturally from a branch that is deeply connected to the Vine and knows it. Gratitude to God is the internal state of a branch that understands where its life comes from.
✍️ REFLECTION
The Israelites had many different kinds of offerings — the burnt offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering. Each served a specific purpose. But the fellowship offering had a distinct character. It was not primarily about atonement or obligation. It was about peace. About communal celebration. About bringing something to God from a heart that simply wanted to give.
That quality of offering — bringing something without being required to, giving out of gratitude rather than obligation — is the closest the Old Testament comes to what the writer of Hebrews later calls “a sacrifice of praise.”
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
There it is. The only sacrifice God still asks of His church is a sacrifice of praise. And notice two things about it. First, it is a sacrifice. It is not always easy or effortless. Praise costs something. Sometimes you offer it in the dark, when you do not feel like it, when the circumstances are not arranging themselves in ways that naturally produce gratitude. It is called a sacrifice because sometimes that is exactly what it is.
Q1: When was the last time praise cost you something? When did you choose to worship in a situation where nothing around you was prompting it? What happened to your heart when you did?
Second, notice the word continually. Not when you feel like it. Not on Sunday mornings when the music is good. Continually. The fellowship offering was brought again and again across the calendar of Israel — it was not a one-time event. And the sacrifice of praise, similarly, is not something you offer once and check off the list. It is the ongoing posture of the heart that knows it is alive only because of the goodness of God.
The contemplation for today asks: how consistently does this flame burn on the altar of your heart?
That question cuts through my defenses. I can organize my worship, schedule my devotional time, maintain my Christian habits — and still have a heart that is fundamentally not oriented in gratitude toward God.
Q2: Rate honestly: on most ordinary days, how consistently does a spirit of genuine gratitude and praise toward God characterize your inner life? Not your prayer time — your inner life during the rest of the day. What is the gap between where you are and where you want to be?
What would close that gap? I do not think the answer is more effort. Trying harder to feel grateful does not tend to produce genuine gratitude. What tends to produce genuine gratitude in me is remembering — remembering what I was before, what God has done, what the cross actually cost, what my life would look like without grace. When I take time to think about those things honestly, the praise often comes naturally. It does not need to be manufactured, It surfaces.
The fellowship offering was brought in response to something — to the goodness of God experienced, to the peace of a relationship restored, to a harvest received. The sacrifice of praise also begins with seeing. You cannot truly praise what you have not truly beheld. So the path to a more consistently grateful heart often begins not with more effort but with more attention to what God has actually done.
Q3: What specific things has God done in your life — recently, or across your whole history with Him — that you have not genuinely stopped to thank Him for? Take a few minutes and actually name them one by one. Let the remembering become the praise.
Take a moment to listen to this beautiful hymn – Count Your Blessings
🌿 REMAIN IN HIM
Take a moment before you move on. This is not a to-do. It is an invitation to stay.
Reflect honestly: Is praise a sacrifice for you right now, or a performance? There is a difference. The sacrifice happens in private, when no one is watching, when it costs something to say “thank You” in the dark.
Bring it to Jesus: Tell Him something you have not thanked Him for yet. Something specific. Something from this week, or this year, or from a long time ago that you have carried without gratitude. Offer it as praise now.
Trust the Gardener: The branch that abides bears the fruit of praise without forcing it. When you stay connected to the Vine, gratitude is a natural overflow. Start by abiding. The praise will follow.
🙏 PRAYER
Father, I want the flame to burn consistently on the altar of my heart — not just in the moments when worship is easy, but continually. Teach me to offer You the sacrifice of praise, especially when it costs something to do it. And help me to remember, daily, what You have actually done — so that the praise doesn’t have to be forced. Let my gratitude to You be the fruit that comes from staying close to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
💡 MEMORY VERSE
Hebrews 9:28 (NIV): “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
This post is part of the Abide in Him Daily devotional series, reading Scripture through the lens of John 15:1–17. The branch doesn’t manufacture the fruit. It bears it because it stays connected to the Vine.
