PITA

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses"

Leviticus put me and my sin right in its place.  I read through Leviticus last night and I woke up this morning and thought, I am going to think today, how many animals I would have to sacrifice today if I had lived in the days of Moses and Aaron.  Well without me spilling all my messy heart out on this page, can I just say that I would have needed a massive herd just for half of one day.  In Leviticus the Lord demands offerings for intentional and unintentional sin.  Rather you unintentionally or intentionally did any of the things that God commanded his people not to do you could not just pray for your sin to be forgiven. Mmmm let's say you covet your neighbor, and this sin becomes known to you, during this time you would have to;

Find a female goat without defect
Lay your hand on the head of the sin offering
Slay the sin offering
The priest takes some of its blood with his finger and puts it on the horns
All the rest of the blood the priest pours out
He removes the fat
Offers the fat up in smoke, creating a soothing aroma
Then the priest shall make atonement for him and he will be forgiven

The book goes on and on, it's messy, PITA volunteers probably aren't allowed to read any of it. 

I do not take my sin seriously.  I take for granted what Christ did for me on the cross truly what He did for me.  He didn't die just so I could go to heaven, He saved me because I am a sinner.  I lost count after lunch on the animals and I forgot if it was a lamb, a goat, a turtledove, was that intentional or unintentional would I need a bull, maybe just unleavened wheat for that sin?  I wonder if the sons of Israel prayed for their Savior to come soon, just as I do?

I do not consider just how Holy God is when I try to compare my sins with others.  What, compare my sins with yours?  I need to compare my sins with the Holiness of God!  The process of forgiveness in Moses' day is a clear picture of our separateness from God.  We once walked with Him in the garden and now we have to slay animals for forgivenss, for peace.  He had to send his only son as a living sacrifice, just so that He could live within us.  And now the forgiveness and peace that we would have had to slay a bull for is ours, it is our fruit, our gift of Love from God.  John 3:16 is more than a scripture, more than a slogan on a bumper sticker.  It goes beyond the fish you put on your car it is a human sacrifice.  Like the bull that had to be slain to forgive those of even their unintentional sin, Christ was brought before the Lord and offered as our burnt offering.  He had to be sacrificed for my sin.  My dirty heart is the blood that dripped from his nail pierced hands, my lies are the thorns that cut his scalp like knives.  By His grace I am forgiven my filthy rags are washed white as snow by His blood, and I have the audacity to bargain with God? "I am not that bad of a sinner, did you see what she was wearing" I did that, in my head, tonight as I watched a young lady walk by with less than a sports bra and shorts that didn't cover a thing they are intended to cover.  Oh Lord, forgive me. 

Sin is something that is not usually discussed, the fact is that Christians are suppose to be "good" a holy and righteousness people.  This is true, but it is only because, like an animal, Christ was sacrificed, put to death on a cross and three days He rose that we are a holy and righteous people.  I certainly can't do it by my own accord.  I am never more disappointed in myself than when I work to earn God's favor.  When I do more than I pray, when I write more than I talk or when I lose sight of who God is and who I am, we are not on a level playing field.  I needed Leviticus to teach me this.  I needed this bloody, disturbing picture of living sacrifices to separate myself from God.  Not in a relationship aspect but in a "He is God" way.  I will never offer enough to God to make Him forget what He had to do to His Son.  All I have is myself.  My testimony.  It is God's to use for His Glory and for His kingdom. 

The beauty of this all, is even with my messy heart, my lies, my filthy rags, my Abba has not once condemned me for any of my sin.  He gently opens my heart and my sin becomes bitter but only so that He will become sweeter. 

We won’t be able to grasp the beauty that is the gospel and the love that we have  been given from Christ unless we begin seeing that our own sin masks the sweetness that is Jesus. Once we become numb to the bitterness of sin then we altogether lose our taste for Christ. We go on thinking that the sin we are feeding ourselves is ok because we feel sustained as long as we have it. Just like satan always does, he takes things that are good and twists them until they become the object of our affections, rather than an opportunity give God the glory he is due for creating things that bring us joy. ~Author Unknown

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9