He was Not a Lost Sacrifice

Scripture: For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. 2 Timothy 4:6

Observation: Paul writes to Timothy from his prison in Rome, and most tradition says this is soon before he dies. He is ready for death. He describes his coming end this way, as he is being poured out as a drink offering.

Jewish law had several offerings, both in type and substance. Animal, or burnt, offerings were placed on the alter, where most of it would then be eaten. Grain offerings were sometimes presented as whole grain, and sometimes as flour; when grain, it may be burned or it may be used by the priests and Levites, and when flour it too may be burned or it may be mixed with oil and thus baked into bread for consumption. However, drink offered were typically raised up before the Lord, and then dumped out on the ground. There was no 'use' for the drink as part of the offering process. It wasn't only partially destroyed and the rest consumed or used for priestly purposes. A drink offering was a total sacrifice ... here it is, and now there it is, absorbed into the dirt, gone.

Application: Paul, declaring himself a drink offering, is leaning into this idea. When he dies, he is a sacrifice, but he hopes that when the time comes that he has nothing left to give. At his death, he will be spent ... there won't be even a little more that he could do. That is what grain and burnt offerings do; They are sacrificed, and once sacrificed they have a little more to do by feeding others.

Perhaps, however, Paul was completely wrong. By the survival of his letters, Paul had so much to give to millennia of believers after his death. His words have been food for so many disciples of Jesus. His death didn't result in him just disappearing into the dirt, with no more value.

I myself read his words often during these devotions, and I read the first verses of Romans 12 almost daily. His words nourish me and many others.

Prayer: Lord, I know you have honored Paul with a valued position in heaven already, and I know his is just a man who pursued your direction in his life. If I can learn anything from him, may it be that I truly need to become a sacrifice for your kingdom. Even if, at the end of my life, I am just dumped in the dirt and forgotten, may I be obedient toward you from this day to that day. Amen.