Tag: God’s rules

Sin & Guilt

Old Testament Reading: Leviticus 5 & 6
Psalms Reading: Psalm 49
New Testament Reading: 1 Corinthians 2

We all love to read a good book full of rules. This is what makes Leviticus the perfect bedtime story. Just kidding, unless if you actually enjoy reading pages of laws… but the majority of us don’t. It can be easy to skip over a book like Leviticus without gathering any insightful information because of how long, repetitive, and honestly boring it can be. But this begs the question, why did God have Moses write it? And why do we need to read it? At first it may seem like God set all the rules in place to restrict us and make life hard. But, through the law, He offered a way for His people to draw closer to Him. The laws found in Leviticus regarding the different offerings are there for the purpose of revealing WHO God is. God is holy. And in order to be in His presence… we must be holy too.

The book of Exodus closes with Moses not being able to enter the tent of meeting, because “the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Moses was not able to be in the presence of God because there was no system in place that made humans clean. The continual theme throughout Leviticus is that humans are unclean. And unfortunately, there are so many tiny things that can make us unclean and keep us from God. This is why the book of Leviticus is so important to the Israelites. It offered a way for the Israelites to enter into the presence of their God. This is a major development of God’s plan of having a personal relationship with us.

Chapters 4, 5 and 6 describe the occasions when sin offerings and guilt offerings were necessary. The difference between a sin offering and a guilt offering is that a sin offering is when the sin only affects yourself, and a guilt offering is when your sin affects others. Therefore, guilt offerings included a 20% reimbursement to the person who was wronged. God designed it this way so that relationships could be restored between the Israelites. The sin and guilt offerings demonstrated that the life is in the blood. Being able to see the blood being poured of the innocent sacrifice allowed the Israelites to understand the concept of a substitute for their sins.

Not only does Leviticus remind us of the holy attributes of God, but it ultimately shows the drastic differences between us and God by revealing all the sin that separates us. Even though we are no longer bound to the offerings and laws, the theme of Leviticus is just as important for us now as it was for the Israelites. God is holy and therefore we need to be holy in order to be in God’s presence.

-Makayla Railton

Reflection Questions

  1. What makes you unclean? What makes you clean? What do you do with your sin and guilt?
  2. What does it mean to you that God is holy? And that even in His holiness He still wants a relationship with you?
  3. What else can we learn about God and His attributes and His heart in our reading of His word today?
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Keep Running

FREE THEME

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 At our house, fall Saturdays (and several summer Saturdays, too) are all about cross country.  My son is a senior and has been running cross country since 6th grade. And this momma has grown to love watching the boys compete.  I wonder how much more our Heavenly Father loves to watch, encourage and cheer on His children who are giving it their all out on the course. 

Perhaps the writer of Hebrews was a runner himself, or had been to the games to cheer on his runner.  He wrote, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1). There are indeed so many parallels between the sweaty, tiring, exhilarating, physical sport of cross country racing and the spiritual race we are all in – for even when we are hunkered down, unmoving – the race is going on around us.  

First off – it is most important to know that the race isn’t just what is done on Saturday morning on the course.  It is all week long, all season long, all the training – effort – preparation – dedication – time – perseverance – discipline.  Likewise, if your spiritual race consists solely of an hour or two at church on Sunday morning, it will not be a very impressive race.  God desires more. The daily workouts – Bible reading. The high protein snack after a work-out – digging deeper into Scripture study. Hydrating daily throughout the week – prayer.  Avoiding the ice cream, pizza and pop – staying away from negative and harmful influences, entertainment and activities.  There are disciplines to follow to be a great runner – just as there are disciplines for being a follower of Jesus.  

Paul also got some good mileage from the racing metaphor.  He wrote to Timothy, “Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5)  On the cross country course it goes without saying that you actually have to run the assigned, mapped out race and follow the rules in order to compete.  Yet, in our spiritual race so many times we try to create our own course or our own rules.  

One thing I didn’t know about cross country 6 years ago was how much it is a team sport.  Sure, every runner wants to compete their best, finishing the race in a shorter time than before.  However, a team won’t win if they have just one or two top finishers. Their team score is compiled by what place their first 5 racers take – and the lowest score wins the meet.  So, it is in the best interest of every member on the team to run the best race they can – while at the same time helping and encouraging and motivating their pack of runners to finish well.  Similarly – the spiritual race is not an individual event. We are called to carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4), build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), gently restore one caught in sin (Galatians 6:1), and of course, love (lots and lots of verses, including John 13:34).  How can you help a fellow runner better prepare for a strong race this week?

It’s God’s course – run it well according to His rules.  

Jesus makes an awesome coach – he’s run the race and knows what you need to succeed on the course of life.  Keep your eyes on him.  

Be disciplined – daily.  Your race requires dedication

Help your fellow runners.

 

Keep Running with Perseverance,

Marcia Railton