January 30

Read Exodus 29-31 The most segregated hour of the week is Sunday morning at 11:00.

Exodus 30:15 The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives.

Is this a bribe to God to atone for our sins? You put the money in the offering plate and you can get a free “Out of Hell” card? What is going on?

From the Life Application Bible: The atonement money was like a census tax. It continued the principle that all the people belonged to God and therefore needed to be redeemed by a sacrifice. Whenever a census took place, everyone, both rich and poor, was required to pay a ransom. God does not discriminate between people (see Acts 10:34; Galatians 3:28). All of us need mercy and forgiveness because of our sinful thoughts and actions. There is no way the rich person can buy off God, and no way the poor can avoid paying. God’s demand is that all of us come humbly before him to be forgiven and brought into his family.

We will see in future readings that when it comes to sacrifices and offerings God does have a sliding scale for rich and poor. Yet on this tax, the ground is equal among all peoples.

Here are the thoughts of F.L. Smith ... It is clear that when it comes to this tax everyone is to pay precisely the same half shekel. This tax was associated with the census and made the point that everyone counts. Rich or poor, male or female, priest or servant – everyone of sufficient age to bear spiritual responsibility has an equal relationship with Israel’s God. The rich can’t buy God’s special favor, nor will the poor be robbed of any blessing. Even today the threshold question of who is numbered among God’s people does not have multiple answers depending on one’s economic, racial or social status. Whether then or now, praise God, salvation is for all, on equal terms.

In these days of political class welfare, the church is the one place where race, social status, and economic differences should not matter. Yet sadly, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said 40 years ago, Sunday morning at 11:00 is still the most segregated hour of the week. Only 8% of churches in the USA are mixed.

If God regards each and every person as equal, how can we make class, race or social distinctions? There is no place for prejudice or discrimination in the family of God.