| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive” Our Bible verse for today: “So if the Son sets your free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV) Our thought for today: “Christ has set you free” Yesterday was my day off. I slept a little later than usual and then had my personal quiet time with the Lord – during which I read the book of Leviticus. The whole thing. All twenty-seven chapters. Okay, maybe I didn’t actually “read” all twenty-seven chapters, I skimmed some of it (it really is pretty dry stuff, right?). So I guess it would be more accurate to say I read/skimmed/sort of “took-in” all twenty-seven chapters. It wasn’t intentional. My regular routine of progressively reading through the Bible simply landed me on this day at the beginning of Leviticus, and my plan was to just read a bit and stop. But an editorial comment in my study Bible in the introduction to Leviticus captured my attention and launched me into that marathon reading session. The editors wrote, “God created humans to lead upright and orderly lives, but through the fall we lost the God-given ability to choose consistently between right and wrong. The Book of Leviticus reflects God’s plan to lead humanity back to righteousness, initially through a set of righteous laws, and effectively through the righteousness of His only Son, Jesus Christ.” That’s what captured my attention – the difference between life for those Old Testament Jews under the system prescribed in Leviticus, compared to the wonderful simplicity and freedom of life in Christ. As I read/skimmed/took-in the twenty-seven chapters, I was struck by the complexity and the heavy onerous nature of it all. Yes, “complex, heavy, and onerous” does describe it. How did they do it? I know it was all intended to be a powerful lesson in God’s holiness as opposed to our sinfulness, and it certainly does illustrate that, but my goodness! But then I realized that God led us through the extraordinary complexities of Leviticus and into simplicity and freedom found only in Christ. What a difference! So this is what Jesus meant when He said in John 8:36 “If the Son sets you free you are free indeed!” We are free from the penalty of our sins, and from the terrible and impossible complexity of always trying to attain holiness, as prescribed by Moses in Leviticus. Thank God we live in the age of grace! Thank God that we have been set free by Jesus from all the rules and rituals and endless sacrifices. Thank God we are fully alive in Christ. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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