SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 4:8 'He (the priest) shall take from it (bull) all the fat of the bull as the sin offering.....10. as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering, and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering."
Related Scripture: Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 7:3-5; 8:16; 9:10, 19-20; 16:6, 11, 17, 25 REFLECTION: It’s inappropriate in our culture to burn the fat of the bull on the altar as a sin offering. But it isn’t inappropriate to burn our body fat. After all, in our country, one of the most obvious and greatest sins is gluttony. Recently, adjustments were made for healthy weights in adults. Needless to say, the weight limits were raised, lulling citizens into a false sense of security. Third world countries have populations of people who have no food, where children are starving to death daily, while America enjoys a life of opulence. There is so much food around citizens cannot help but imbibe, the result being overweight. Banquets of food exist all about us. To refuse to eat is to insult our host. People, like myself, have to work hard to eat less. To refuse to eat brings on feelings of deprivation as we watch others indulge. Restaurants toss out tons of food daily---food left on plates people send back to the kitchens, food prepared but not sold in a narrow window of time. It's a national disgrace. A diet advertisement instructs people to leave food on their meal plates so they can lose so much weight over time. This ad irritates me. I ask: Why take the food and leave it on the plate? Why not ask people to take less food on their plates to start with? Wouldn't that serve the same purpose? Perhaps an allegory in this scripture is that fat is a sin offering. In past times, a man's wealth was determined by the amount of fat on his wife’s body. If she was fat, he had enough money to indulge her with food. Fat was beauty. Today, losing the excess baggage that creates health problems, lethargy and represents gluttony should be an acceptable national past-time. Eating less and aiding redistribution of food supplies to countries with starving people is a challenge. Even so, smaller, healthier, food portions combined with social action could be a Christian’s sin offering. Let's take the fat from the bull (ourselves) and offer it as a sin offering (feed the hungry). Can you accomplish this, even in a small manner? PRAYER: Lord, I am confronted with such an abundance of food each day. Help me to control my urge toward gluttony that is the result of this oversupply. Help me see ways to redirect the excess food on my table to those in need. Amen. ---written by Carolyn | 
