Tag Archives: forgiveness

March 11 – Carry Me

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Deuteronomy 1&2

Get ready for a history lesson. Moses is preparing the  Jews to enter the Promised Land by reminding them where they’ve been, and what God had done every day for the children of Israel since they left Egypt forty years before.

Moses is speaking to people who had never been slaves in Egypt. Their parents had been. But their parents were dead now. Moses’ audience had not crossed the Red Sea, had not been there when Moses received God’s Commandments, or tapped a rock and got water. They hadn’t experienced the plagues that finally forced Pharaoh to let the Jews leave their captives. So Moses wanted to give them a history lesson to be sure they understood the role God played in their journey, the role God wanted to continue to play with this new generation of Jews now ready to enter the Promised Land.

Moses tells them that, during the forty years since the Jews left Egypt, God carried them, “just as a man carries his son.” (1:31) I love that analogy.

I love watching daddies pick up their children, lift them high over their heads, and place them on their shoulders. You probably rode on your own father’s shoulders. Maybe you’ve carried your own child in such a manner.

I recently saw a video of my then 16 year old nephew, picking up his four year old little brother, lifting him over his head with ease, and placing the boy on his shoulders. The teenager picked up the boy as if the youngster was as light as a feather.

But the other thing I love about this video is the look of joy on the face of my youngest nephew, the four year old child sitting high on his brother’s shoulders. I’m sure his world looked a bit different from that vantage point. It sure seemed to be a happy place.

And that’s what Moses wanted the children of Israel to realize. First, God is able to carry them all the way. And two, when we allow ourselves to be carried by our Heavenly Father, life looks pretty great from there. We have reason to smile!

So Father, carry me. Lift me high and let me rest on your shoulders. Take me where You want me to go, but never let me forget where I’ve been and what you have saved me from. I want, not only to walk with you today, but I want to let you do the heavy lifting of my burdens, my insecurities, my fears and failures. Thank You for wanting to.

 

March 9 – Clear The Land

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Numbers 33&34

Be honest. Do you have a secret sin you are holding on to? An ungodly TV show that makes you laugh? An internet site that you find interesting although it dishonors God? Someone you refuse to forgive? Drinking alcohol to excess even if its just within your home? Anger? Jealousy? An obsession with a loved one?

When we become Christians, God demands that we confess our sins – all of them – and repent. That means we lay it all out there, drop those sins at Jesus’ feet, and walk away clean.

God told Israel that, when they went into the Promised Land to take it for themselves, they needed to drive out the inhabitants. He warned them not to let anyone stay because if they did, those who remained would end up being “pricks in (their) eyes and thorns in (their) sides.” He said those people would trouble the Jews in the land God had promised to them.

That same God is saying to us today to get rid of all sin. All of it. If you insist on holding on to something – even if you think no one on the earth knows what you are doing – it will end up biting you.

God doesn’t demand we be holy to prevent us from enjoying this life, our own Promised Land of fellowship with Him. He demands holiness of us so that we can enjoy life to the fullest!

No thorns in our sides to take away our joy. No pricks in our eyes to distract us and cause us pain.

There is no sin I can think of worth holding on to if it prevents me from receiving all God intends for me in this life while I wait to join Him in the next.

Feb 26 – And The Winner Is…

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Numbers 7

I’m not sure how it started, but we have a playful competition among me and my sisters when it comes to gift-giving. If I put $25 in a birthday card for one of the kids, one sister might put $26 in hers, and another sister might give $26.50. I’ve been known to pull out my wallet and throw an additional $5 at a nephew if a sister out-gave me just so I will be the “good” aunt. One time, I was the highest gift-giver by a penny in a card to our dad.

Silly, I know. But we always get a good laugh out of it. And my nieces and nephews just shake their heads and roll their eyes.

Reading Numbers 7 is repetitious. I could have condensed this chapter to about  six verses:

Every tribe gave exactly the same thing when it was their day to bring the sacrifices to the temple: one silver dish…”

However,  God inspired the writer of the book to repeat the identical list twelve times. It’s tempting, because they are all the same, to skim over 90% of this chapter. Yet God wanted it to be written this way.

So I read every word this morning. And when I did I thought about my family’s little competition. It occurred to me that there can be no competition when we come to the Lord.

God leveled the playing field so no one can say they are the “good” child for bringing more. God says ALL have sinned. God says no one comes to Him except through His Son Jesus. God says unless a man is born again he will not see heaven.

Here’s what God expects of us, what He demands we give Him: everything!

We must all empty ourselves in humility, confess our sins, and ask  Him to forgive us by the blood of Jesus. We can’t buy our way into redemption with money or talent or good intentions. And someone isn’t more saved than another by virtue of the level of their sacrifice.

And, here is what I love about the seventh chapter in Numbers. God accepted every sacrifice equally, whether given the first day or the twelfth. It tells me that today, every time a sinner repents, even if he’s the 1,000 sinner redeemed in a day, God accepts that soul with as much joy and love as though he or she were the only one.

So the winner is us. It’s we who have received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus. It’s those of us who have emptied ourselves and allowed God Himself to fill us up. I am the apple of God’s eye. But so are you, if you know Him. And we both received His forgiveness exactly the same way.

 

Feb 25 – Restitution

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Numbers 5&6

God instructed that a person who committed a sin against another person was to first confess that sin. Then, they were to make restitution in full for the sinful act, plus add another 1/5, and give it all to the person who had been wronged. It wasn’t enough to pay for the damage. You had to pay the damage, and a little more.

I’ve sinned against God. I’ve confessed my sin. But there is no way I can make restitution. I am totally unable to pay the penalty for sin, which is death. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) I can’t do that, much less die plus add 1/5.

So the One I sinned against, paid it all for me Himself. Inconceivable. I can stand before God, account paid, guiltless of the sins I’ve committed against Him because Jesus shed His own blood and died in my place.

I will not suggest that I can, by being a good person, ever repay God for sending Jesus to the cross for me. Jesus’ grace isn’t a loan.

Yet because of what He did for me, I WANT to live my life to honor Him. I find myself wanting to resist temptation, to spend time in His Word, to talk to and about Him, share Him with people who don’t yet know Him.

I want my life to stand out from the crowd because I want people to see this amazing Savior in me.

No, there’s no need to pay restitution to God when Jesus has already done that. But I want my life, the choices I make, to show Him how much I love Him, how grateful I am that He paid it all for me.

And blesses me every day with Himself.

Feb 18 – Acceptance

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Leviticus 16-18

God demands certain things concerning sexual relationships. He goes into great detail here in chapter 18 so no one can “accidentally” sleep with someone they shouldn’t. Read the list. It is a sin to have sex with a blood relative: a parent, a child, a half-sibling, a  niece, nephew, aunt, step-parent, grandchild. Having sex with a blood relative can send you to jail yet today.

God is also specific about the sin of having sex with an animal. I would think we can all agree that these sexual acts are sin, an abomination.

So how can anyone read 18:22 and not think the same thing? Homosexuality is a sin according to Scripture.

Someone recently told me the world would be a better place if everyone was more like Jesus, loving and accepting of everyone. But did Jesus accept everyone? What about the Sadducees and Pharisees? What about the rich young man who walked away from Jesus? What about Judas who betrayed Him?

I agree with my friend. The world would be a better place if people were more like Jesus. Jesus loved everyone so much He died for them. If He just accepted everyone He wouldn’t have had to go to the cross.

Jesus loved people enough to point out sin in their lives and demanded they repent. Jesus never turned a blind eye to sin that would lead a person to hell. He never glossed over sin or justified it. Jesus called the woman at the well out, then told her to quit sinning.

If I want to be like Jesus, I must love the homosexual enough to identify homosexuality as a sin. The truth is God does love everyone, and accepts anyone who confesses sin and asks His forgiveness. He is faithful and just to forgive every sin. But asking forgiveness comes before acceptance.

I know this is not a politically correct viewpoint. But I am not accountable to you. I love you in Jesus’ name. And sin is sin.

Feb 17 – Blood and Water

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Leviticus 14-15

Don’t you love reading the Bible when something jumps out as though you were reading it for the first time? That’s what happened to me this morning. Today’s chapters include the required sacrifices for making a person healed of leprosy clean before God. Once again God’s instructions are very detailed. It includes lambs and birds and oil and wood and red string…

One of the sacrifices described includes the death of one bird, its blood sprinkled on a live bird. Then the live bird is set free to fly over the open field.

Dear one, isn’t that what happened to you when you accepted the fact that Jesus’ blood was applied to your account? Wasn’t your soul set free to soar just like that bird we read about today? Jesus blood was shed, that blood covered your sins, and you were set free. My heart is soaring just thinking about it.

Oh, there’s more!

As I was reading about how the priests were to go about cleansing a leprous house, another beautiful picture came to mind. Look at 14:51-53. The house was cleansed by running water and the blood!

My mind went immediately to the cross where Jesus died for me. What happened when the soldier pierced Jesus’ side? Out pour water and blood! That was not just some physiological phenomenon. That was God saying Jesus’ death on that cross was no accident. Jesus’ death absolutely fulfills every tiny little detail required to make me clean.

When the water and the blood poured out of Jesus’ side, that was God saying, “I love you, Connie, and I’ve got this covered.”

Dearest Savior, My heart is full this morning as I recognize how connected the Old Testament is to the Gospel. Thank you for showing us in such detail what is required for the forgiveness of sin. Thank you for the men and women who followed your instructions, who sacrificed the lambs, who washed the birds, who put the blood on toes and fingers, who baked the bread. I can’t even list a fraction of what Old Testament forgiveness requires right now. Yet I see quite clearly that what Jesus did for me on the cross was planned and executed perfectly to fulfill every little detail. You didn’t miss a thing. And you did that for me. Thank You for covering me with Your blood. My spirit soars. I worship You.

Feb 16 – Unclean! Unclean!

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Leviticus 11-13

I wonder what it was like for a person who had to live outside the camp because he was unclean. God was very specific in his instructions concerning leprosy. The priest had to inspect the infected person, and if any spot no matter how small was identified as leprosy, that person had to live by himself, away from family and friends.

Unclean! Unclean!

Could the leper hear the laughter of the people inside the camp? Could he smell the aroma of dinner cooking over a campfire? Was there dancing and singing inside while he was forced to remain alone and  separated from all the activity? I bet those seven days seemed like an eternity. It would for me.

In a way, I think hell will be like that. Alone, separated, outside the gates of heaven, an eternity to realize their own uncleanness. Will they hear the praises and singing of those who were made clean by the blood of Jesus? And will those happy sounds magnify the shame of  being forced to sit in their disease of sin?

The Old Testament leper could console himself with the hope that after the seven days of exile, a priest could pronounce him clean again, and he could return to the camp. There will be no such hope for those in hell.

Jesus, our High Priest, will have the final say. He will declare clean those of us who have accepted His grace, the forgiveness He bought with His death on Calvary. And He will pronounce “Unclean” everyone who has rejected Him, even those who tried to enter heaven by some other means than the blood of the Savior.

There are two eternities. One is inside the camp where God is. The other is an eternity outside, in darkness and solitude, an eternity of living in uncleanness and regretting every decision that sent them there.

I’m praying for you.

Feb 14 – For Love

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Leviticus 5-7

It’s Valentines Day. You hear the word “love” thrown around a lot today. Got me to thinking about what love is all about.

Ravi Zacharias said, “Love is as much a question of the will as it is of the emotion.” Do you remember the popular book from years ago, “Love Is A Choice”? And I’ll always remember a former pastor saying, “Love is something you do.”

So as I’m reading about all the sacrifices and how detailed were God’s instructions, a lightbulb went off. God gave these instructions for love.

Here’s God, separated from the people He created and who He loves with the strongest emotion possible. Here’s God wanting to fellowship with his children but cannot because of sin in their lives. Here’s God, bridging the gap so that sinners could be forgiven, and fellowship restored.

What I read today isn’t a list of arbitrary hoops for people to jump through. This was God, reaching out and saying, “Here’s how you can come to Me. Please come to Me!”

God wants them to ask Him for forgiveness. He’s anxious to do that. God wants them to shed blood on an altar so He can. God is rooting for them, cheering them on, calling to them, and gladly forgiving them when they ask.

These chapters I read today is about love. I think I’ve always read them as though they were about rules. But the message here is definitely love.

God is love. God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus, to bridge that gap created by sin, once and for all. And it’s the same God as the One who gave Moses these directions in these chapters in Leviticus. He’s still anxious to forgive us when we come to Him, He’s still rooting for us, calling to us.

So today, if love is something you do, I would challenge you to love God by doing what He’s asked us to do. Accept Jesus as Savior, repent of sin, live for the One who loved you and gave Himself for you.

Sure, love is an emotion. But that emotion is meaningless and empty if it doesn’t include choice, and action, and obedience.

Thank You, Lord, for demonstrating Your love for Your children by providing a way for them to be forgiven for sin. Thank you for loving those Old Testament people enough to want to fellowship with them. And thank You for Jesus, who is our perfect sacrifice here in the 21st Century. Thank You for love. Thank You for You.

Feb 13 – And He Will Be Forgiven

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Leviticus 1-4

The priests were given specific instructions for sacrifices for sins. And the instructions varied according to the sin a person was confessing, and on the animal they brought to be sacrificed. Every one of the million or so Jews in the desert required an animal sacrifice for the sins they committed. And, if they were like me, they probably needed to visit the priest every day.

Next time I complain about being too busy, I’m going to remember what a day in the life of Aaron and his sons must have looked like.

“The priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.” Those words are repeated several times in the chapters we read today. Of course they pertain to the work of the Old Testament priests who stood over the altar and shed the blood of thousands of animals so that the children of God could be forgiven for their sins.

But we live after the cross. Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice, fulfilled all the requirements handed down to Aaron for atonement for sin, for forgiving us. He died once and for all.

It’s not that what we read today isn’t still required for forgiveness. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” still applies today. But praise God, Jesus’ blood covers it all!

Every detail has been perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. And because He offered Himself to be sacrificed, I can go to Him and know forgiveness is mine for the asking.

My Priest, Jesus, has made atonement for me, and I am forgiven.

Feb 9 – You Can Fool Some Of The People Some Of The Time

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Exodus 30-32

Really Aaron? “This is the god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”? (32:4) A statue you yourself made from gold, and you want to pass it off as a god? Did you really think your brother Moses was going to believe that you threw some gold earrings into a fire and out popped this idol all by itself? Do you think anyone in his right mind would believe such a story? Are you saying you believe it? Seriously?

Ok, friend. How many times have you (have I) rationalized our own bad behavior? Ever say, “He made me do it”? Ever try to convince someone that God’s ok with you not going to church because you’re working extra hours to get that promotion? Ever try to talk someone into agreeing with you that getting drunk on the weekends doesn’t mean you have a drinking problem? Ever look at Playboy for the great articles?

What was God’s response to Aaron and the sin committed by the children of Israel? Don’t kid yourself into thinking He’s any less angry with us when we disobey.

I can read these verses in Exodus and shake my head at Aaron’s audacity. Then I look in the mirror and realize I look an awfully lot like Aaron.

Maybe in some parallel universe we might get someone to believe a gold calf emerged from a fire on its own. Maybe you might convince someone that the sin you are committing isn’t really a sin after all.

But you will never fool God.

Dear Father, I hate it when I recognize myself in some of the Bible’s accounts. I know there have been times when I rationalize sin in my life, and I am sorry. You have a right to be angry with me. But I don’t want You to be. God, may I identify sin in my life, call it what it is, and repent of it. Stop me when I try to convince myself or someone else that any sin is ok. I lay down all my defenses. Guilty. And forgiven. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name.