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The sacred vs the common…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 6:11 Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 

Verse 11 really struck me this morning. I couldn’t figure out why the priest needed to change clothes to carry the ashes outside the camp. And, of course, the reason has to do with the sacred verses the common–the sacred vestments worn at the alter vs the common clothing worn outside the tabernacle.

Leviticus 6:12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. 

And that got me thinking of the sacred vs the common in all aspects of life. God wants our hearts. Always. He wants us to take the sacred into the common as we go about our daily lives. I’m better at that than I once was, but I’m still a work in progress.

Leviticus 6:13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

Precious Savior, Help me to take Your sacred love into the common spaces of my life and infuse every aspect of my day with Your love, grace, and mercy. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 6:14 “ ‘These are the regulations for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons are to bring it before the Lord, in front of the altar.

Have a blessed day. 

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God desires community…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 6:6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 

This morning I have been praying for wisdom about today’s verses. Commentary talks about all kinds of things, but I guess what strikes me is God’s desire for community with us. All of these rules are about what the Israelites need to do to be able to stay in community with Him.

Leviticus 6:7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”

Interestingly, while I have always associated Jesus with community, I don’t often think of God in that capacity. I’ll be honest, the Old Testament God has always seemed very cold, angry, and distant, so to view Him through this lens is really interesting for me. 

Leviticus 6:8-9 The Lord said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the understanding that God wants community with us just as much as You do. As someone who has always felt the Old Testament God was a bit judgy and distant, that understanding feels pretty revolutionary. Draw me closer. Always. Amen.

Leviticus 6:10 The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar.

Have a blessed day.

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Expectations and intentions…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 6:1-2 The Lord said to Moses: “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, 

These rules were originally laid out so that the Israelites understood what was expected of them–their thoughts, their actions, their behavior and repentance. After spending 400 years in Egypt, they honestly didn’t know. 

Leviticus 6:3 or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—  

But here’s something I have seen first hand: I cannot make you feel guilty about something. I can try, but if it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t matter what I say, you won’t feel guilty. Yet there will be a reckoning, eventually, our intentions will be examined. Proverbs 21:2 says, “People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart.” 

Leviticus 6:4 when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found,

Precious Savior, Thank You for the reminder of Your ways and expectations, and thank You for the reminder that ultimately we will stand before You as You examine our hearts. Help me to do my best to live a life that is pleasing to You. Help me to always remember “…that the greatest of these is love” and to act accordingly. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 6:5 or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.

Have a blessed day.

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Deeply, fiercely, completely loved…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 5:16 They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.

I am so incredibly aware of my imperfections and fallibilities. Matthew 5:48 (Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.) has always been tough for me because I am so disastrously far from perfect that I know I can never measure up. 

Leviticus 5:17 “If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible. 

It took me years (and years and years) to truly believe, down to my soul, that God loves me EXACTLY as I am, which means He knows of alllllllll my failures and shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, and He loves me anyway because I am His deeply, fiercely, completely loved child. Period.

Leviticus 5:18 They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven. 

Precious Savior, You know I fight feeling “not good enough” on a daily basis. Thank You for whispering to my heart, every single day, that I am Yours, deeply, fiercely, completely loved. Period. I am eternally grateful for Your love and grace. Amen.

Leviticus 5:19 It is a guilt offering; they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord.”

Have a blessed day. 

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Human nature…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 5:12 They are to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. It is a sin offering.

I can already see the pitfall in this system. The last half of v13 says that “a handful” of the offering is God’s. The rest “will belong to the priest.” That leaves the door open to human temptation and fallibility.

Leviticus 5:13a In this way the priest will make atonement for them for any of these sins they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

Human nature is unpredictable, capricious. We are wired to fear scarcity and guard against lack, and it seems like when we are together, competition and oneupmanship are often in the fore, whether we want them to be or not.

Leviticus 5:13b The rest of the offering will belong to the priest, as in the case of the grain offering.’ ”

Precious Savior, It is so easy to get caught up in this world and all its noise. Help me to focus on You, to draw closer to You, to be more like You every minute of every day. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 5:14-15 The Lord said to Moses: “When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering.

Have a blessed day.

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Means or lack thereof…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 5:7 “ ‘Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 

In this day and age, there is often a huge gap between the haves and have nots. If you have (money, power, influence, access), life is pretty easy. You can always get what you need. If you don’t have those things, you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit. Maybe someone will help you. Maybe not. It is what it is.

Leviticus 5:8-9 They are to bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one for the sin offering. He is to wring its head from its neck, not dividing it completely, and is to splash some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar; the rest of the blood must be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. 

The thing I appreciate about these verses in Leviticus is that the forgiveness of sins via this sin offering isn’t contingent on having the means to get a lamb. If you can’t afford a lamb, there is another way–two doves or young pigeons. If you can’t afford either of those, there is yet another option, shown in v11. Means or lack thereof is not a barrier to access.

Leviticus 5:10 The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the prescribed way and make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

Precious Savior, We live in a time when means or lack thereof seems to make or break people. It’s not right and it’s not fair, but it is often seen as just the way it is. Thank You for showing us that there is another way, a better way. Help us to help each other in Your name. Amen.

Leviticus 5:11 “ ‘If, however, they cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, they are to bring as an offering for their sin a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour for a sin offering. They must not put olive oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering.

Have a blessed day. 

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The greatest of these is love…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 5:1 “ ‘If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.

Reading through Leviticus in my personal life while reading through 1 Corinthians 13:13 (“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”) in my church reading has been enlightening. I feel like I get the verse in a new way.

Leviticus 5:2 “ ‘If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty—if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realize their guilt; 

I think most people, at any given time, are doing the best that they can. That best is by no means perfect, but I think most folks do not set out to intentionally harm others. Because we are all human and fallible, while we are on this earth, the greatest thing we can do is to love one another as Christ loves us–fiercely, completely, warts and all. 

Leviticus 5:3-4 or if they touch human uncleanness (anything that would make them unclean) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt; or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt— 

Precious Savior, Thank You for this new understanding of 1 Cor 13:13. Thank You for Your fierce, deep, eternal love for us, even though we are so incredibly flawed. Help us to love others as You love us. Always. Amen.

Leviticus 5:5-6 when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned. As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.

Have a blessed day. 

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Attending to the barriers…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 4:32 “ ‘If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. 

This morning’s scripture made me think of a part of the Catholic Mass (called the Confiteor, I looked it up), “I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned in my thoughts and words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do.” 

Leviticus 4:33 They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 

Commentary on today’s scripture says that God cares about the unintentional sins of the common people. The comments on the Confiteor suggest praying it daily, even hourly. I truly think what is important is remembering that we are human and fallible, that we sin in ways we don’t even realize or intend, and we need to be mindful and make amends.

Leviticus 4:34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 

Precious Savior, I truly don’t think You want us to be mired in memories of or regret for our sin, intentional or not. But I do think You want us to be mindful of the ways we sin without intending, without knowing, and I think You want us to attend to anything that puts a barrier between us and You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 4:35 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

Have a blessed day. 

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Mercy and grace…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 4:27-28 “ ‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. 

Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….” is still echoing in my head this morning, especially after a conversation yesterday about the fact that every single disciple deserted Jesus right before He was crucified.

Leviticus 4:29 They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 

Judas, certainly, is painted as the biggest villain, though Jesus, knowing his betrayal, still broke bread with him. Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed, but at least he made it to the courtyard. The other disciples didn’t even get that far, yet in both Matthew and Mark, Jesus instructs the women at the tomb to tell His brothers He will meet them in Galilee after His resurrection.

Leviticus 4:30 Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for giving the disciples more grace than they deserved, even though they deserted You in Your time of need. Thank You for the hope that Your mercy and grace covers me just as securely when I fall short, again and again. Help me to show that same mercy and grace to myself and others. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 4:31 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

Have a blessed day. 

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On contradictions and sacrifices…. (devo reflection)

Leviticus 4:22-23 “ ‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect. 

As I was reading today’s verses, two additional verses of scripture came to mind. The first is Matt 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The second is Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….”

Leviticus 4:24 He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering. 

Those two verses seem to contradict each other and perhaps lay the groundwork for all this bloody sacrifice in Leviticus–We as humans cannot be perfect. It’s impossible. So we have to atone for our sins to try to wipe the slate clean. Jesus’s sacrifice was a permanent wiping of the slate.

Leviticus 4:25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for the verses You have laid on my heart this morning. Thank You for sitting with me and inviting me to ponder Your word in ways I haven’t before. Help me to understand and draw closer to You with every breath. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Leviticus 4:26 He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

Have a blessed day.