by Barbara Chadwick

 

60% of your brain is fat!?!  Are you serious?! I always thought it was this big muscle that made everything in our bodies work.

After reading this 60% statistic I was curious about the instruction God gave the Israelites to burn the fat of their sacrifices on the altar and that it was a pleasing aroma to God. For every different sacrificial offering this was to be so.

Consider the peace offering in Leviticus chapter 3. The fat, the kidneys and the fatty lobe of the liver are to be burned; including “the entire fat tail.”  Interesting.  I never thought of a sheep’s tail as being significant.

Then I read that, “The Palestinian breed of Oriental fat-tailed sheep… have an extra long tail that serves to store body fat. A tail weighing 15 – 20 pounds is not uncommon and is regarded as the choice part of the animal for eating, much as we regard a filet mignon or prime rib of beef. Such sheep still exist in the Middle East today, and stories are told of little two-wheeled devices attached to the tail to support it as the sheep moves around…. Therefore to give God the fat was to give Him the very best.”  (From the Preacher Commentary)

The Barnes Commentary said, “Now the burning of this fat is to signify, (1.) the offering up of our good affections to God in all our prayers and praises.  God must have the inwards; for we must pour out our souls and lift up our hearts in prayer and must bless His name with all that is within us…The fat denotes the best and choicest, which must always be devoted to God, who has made for us a feast of fat things.  (2.) The mortifying of our corrupt affections and lusts; and the burning up of them by the fire of divine grace (Colossians 3:5) Then we are truly thankful for former mercies, and prepared to receive further mercy, when we part with our sins, and have our minds cleared from all sensuality by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)”

The Preacher Commentary concluded this portion with, “I keep wanting to find the strength, and courage to bring the very best of what I have to God. It would be easier to cut a fat tail off a sheep than it is to give God the best of my energy, the best of my talents, the best of my time and money. Why is this so difficult?”

The apostle Paul said, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:1-2

So since the mind is 60% fat it must be a “best and choicest part” to God. The words of our prayers and praises are formed in our brains. Our corrupt affections and lusts also come from our brains. Let us be transformed by renewing our minds. Then let us present our bodies as a living sacrifice which is pleasing to God (i.e. a pleasing aroma to God)