Day Thirty-three = The Missing Altar

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev. 22:17)

When it came Elijah’s turn to offer up a sacrifice he had to call for an altar to be built. “Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down.” (1 Kings 18:30) Why wasn’t an altar already there? Could it be that the altar of the Lord designed to offer true honor and worship to the almighty God was toppled over by the carelessness of the Israelite nation? Sure and steady was the climb of mediocrity that seeped into the pores of the Israelites everyday life. One moral twist here, and another bend over there; mixing their faith, religion, and traditions with those of the cultures around them. It appears as though they tore down that altar one compromising brick after another.

Today in many homes the family altar is missing. Just like the Israelites we erected the altar once. We had good intentions but somehow life got in the way. We don’t pray together, sing together, or read scripture together as a family anymore. We compromised the family altar away one brick at a time in the name of convenience. Susie likes to do her devotions at 5 A.M. and Billy doesn’t like the devotion book we were using, and dad won’t even consider listening to the new contemporary worship music, so….. Everyone goes their separate ways.

Ever heard of the phrase divide and conquer? Satan loves to use this tactic to separate God’s people from Him. It is easy to slip in compromises, justifications, and excuses when there is no accountability. This is what happened to the Israelites. They allowed the religions of the cultures around them to seep in and compromise the purity of their faith. Bring back the unity in your family. Bring back the family altar. In order to effect change, in order for the power of God to be revealed Elijah first had to rebuild the altar. The altar is the place of change. It is time for us to change; it is time for us to repair the altar of the Lord!