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Jubilee

Daily Reading

Leviticus 24-25

Daily Thought

I was driving home from the dealer having just purchased a brand new convertible. I had a CostCo stop to make and coming back to my car in the parking lot, there was a light crease on the bumper, the kind made by a runaway shopping cart. I had not even gotten the car home yet. I shed a tear, then checked myself and remembered who the car really belonged to. Would I care for something more because it belonged to God or because it belonged to me? Looking up to heaven, I shrugged, “Okay, if that’s how you want to treat your property.”

God made clear to the Israelites who it was that owned their new land: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Leviticus 25:23). A year of Jubilee would remind them of this. Every 50th year was a reset. The game started over, everyone returned to their original place, debts were covered, and slaves were freed. Mountains of wealth and valleys of poverty were leveled.

It was a reminder that the land wasn’t a personal possession, that the Israelites were guests of God, “strangers and sojourners with me.” It should remind us, as well, that our home isn’t truly here, but somewhere else. “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2Corinthians 5:1).

Finally, it should remind us that we needn’t fear. We do not have to fend for ourselves, but we are under the care of God. Two words are absolutely vital for Jubilee to work and be a good thing: “with me.” We are strangers and sojourners “with God.” That means the land is his, not some ruler who could arbitrarily use it for his needs and wants and desires. It belongs to the righteous and holy God who causes all things to work for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. “I am the LORD your God.”

Daily Prayer

Father in Heaven, the world is Yours, and all that is in it. You are the source of every good and every blessing. My greatest blessing is adoption into Your family because of the saving work of Your Son. You call it grace. I call it good news. Everything I have is yours.

Teach me to share.

Amen

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Closed On Sundays

Daily Reading

Leviticus 22-23

Daily Thought

In 1946, Truett Cathy opened a restaurant he dubbed the Dwarf Grill, because it was small. Right from the start, Cathy determined they would rest on the Lord’s Day. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places” (Leviticus 23:3). Closed on Sunday. I guess you can do that when you’re small.

Have you ever heard of Chick-Fil-A? That was Truett’s next restaurant. Chain of restaurants, actually. They are HUGE! They are everywhere. They are closed on Sunday. Truett Cathy explains why, “Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and directing our attention to things more important than our business. If it took seven days to make a living with a restaurant, then we needed to be in some other line of work.” Busy-ness is not always good business. 

When I heard about Truett Cathy’s commitment, I wanted to applaud him and support him. So, right after church, I took the whole family to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. 

They were closed.

Daily Prayer

Creator God, in six days You created the heavens and the earth. All the glory and majesty. All of life. On the seventh day, You rested. You show me how to work and how to worship.

My desire, God, is to be like You. To reflect Your image. To be Christlike. You have asked me, no, commanded me to go and make disciples, to be a fisher of men and women. Jesus, I will go and make disciples better if I would stop and enjoy you more. Father, may I rest in You. Strengthen my faith so that I trust You enough to stop. To stop my efforts. To live in Your rest, Your care, Your glory.

Amen

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Take the Deal

Daily Reading

Leviticus 19-21

Daily Thought

Question: Why don’t Christians today obey all the laws and instructions of the Old Testament?

The short answer is, we did. That needs to be explained, doesn’t it?

Israel is the nation ruled by God, and “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). You shall be different than those other nations around you that are not the nation ruled by God. You shall be a nation set apart to me. Count how many times Leviticus 19 reminds Israel, “I am the LORD your God.” This long list of instructions tell the Israelites how to do “I am the LORD your God.” The chapter closes simply and straightforward: “Do them” (Leviticus 19:37).

Jesus did them.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). He fulfilled all righteousness, then offered the most incredibly, ridiculously wonderful trade of all time: his righteousness for our sin.”For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2Corinthians 5:21).” Take the deal! We obeyed the Law when Jesus obeyed the Law, and we are righteous because he is righteous; his righteousness became ours.

This does not mean that the Law goes away. “You shall be holy, for I am holy” is in the New Testament, too (Matthew 5:48; 1Peter 1:16). Significant is a verse right in the middle of Leviticus 19, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v 18). Jesus, who is holy, says loving your neighbor goes right along with loving God and this sums up everything, that all the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments (Matthew 22:40). Jesus fulfilled all the Law so we can focus fully on its heart, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:40). 

Daily Prayer

God, You so loved the world that You sent Your one and only Son. Anyone believing in Him will receive eternal life. In Your grace, You did not send Your Son to condemn me. In Your holiness, You would have been justified to do so, but Your Son became condemnation so I might receive justification in His Name.

The Name of Jesus is the Name above all names. May I never mix it with any others. May I always hold it high. May I walk in Your ways, increasing Your reputation in this world. May I humble myself and direct all glory to You.

Amen

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As Far As East Is from the West

Daily Reading

Leviticus 16-18

Daily Thought

There were two goats used on the Day of Atonement. One was slaughtered and its blood was carried into the Holy of Holies by the high priest. That was the blood that covered the guilt of the people in the sight of God. Now their conscience was purified and they could serve the living God.

The other goat was held at the entrance of the tabernacle until the high priest came out and laid his hands on its head. Acting on behalf of all the people of Israel, the high priest confessed the sins of the people and transferred their sins to this animal. This second goat is the “scapegoat.”  Nowadays, that is what we call someone who takes the blame for everyone’s mistake. This goat not only received the blame but also took the guilt, carrying it far away into the wilderness–as far as east is from the west.  

Together these two goats picture the redemptive work of Jesus. His blood has covered our sins in the sight of God, just as the blood of the first goat did once each year, but now, in Jesus, once for all time. And Jesus became the scapegoat for all his people. Jesus our Savior was loaded with all our sins and carried them far, far away–as far as east is from west. That’s how much he loves us.

My children would tell me how much they loved me by stretching out their arms as far as they could and shouting, “This much …and more.” So did Jesus. As far as east is from the west …and more.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 
as far as the east is from the west, 
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
~Psalm 103:11-12

Daily Prayer

God, thank You doing all the work. You were innocent of sin and yet you died for mine.   I sin a lot. But more than that, you keep walking with me. You keep shaping me into the person you created me to be. I’m free from the guilt of sin because of you, but you keep working on me, freeing me day by day from the presence of sin. Help me to hate my sin as much as you do. I know that happens as my love for you continues to grow, this much and more. Jesus, I love you. 

Amen

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Jars of Clay

Daily Reading

Leviticus 14-15

Daily Thought

The ritual begins with two birds. One is killed and placed in an “an earthenware vessel over fresh water” (Leviticus 14:50), but birds don’t belong in clay bowls, they belong in the heavens. In this we see Jesus, who “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7). He belongs in the heavens, yet he became as one of us–a “treasure in jars of clay” (2Corinthians 4:7).  

The other bird is dipped in the blood of the first, then turned loose to fly. In this we see ourself, as we find our “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). When the bird flew into the skies, Israel knew it was made pure and set free. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom” (Revelation 1:5). 

It is in these rituals, these sacrifices, that Israel is being made ready for her Savior.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, eternal God.  You knew how You were going to save me long before I sinned. My sin is terrible, and reminders of it are terrible and bloody, but I need those reminders. I so easily think of my sins as common, and forget that I was not made for sin, but for Your glory.  

Teach me to hate sin and love salvation. Remind me of the death sin brings, if only to make my desire grow for Your goodness and glory and grace. May I set my mind always on things above, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  

Amen

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Kosher

Daily Reading

Leviticus 11-13

Daily Thought

Question: What were God’s reasons for declaring some food clean and some unclean, or certain conditions such as childbirth, menstruation, and leprosy unclean?

Lots of reasons have been offered. Perhaps there is symbolism in the choice of animals. The clean animals represented virtues, the unclean vices. Or maybe the unclean animals were the ones that the godless countries around Israel used in their pagan worship. One idea is that the unclean animals and the unclean conditions were psychologically repulsive. Others argue that certain animals, scavengers mostly, and the blood of childbirth and menstruation, and, of course, the diseases of chapter 13, were unclean because they were literally unclean. They were unhealthy and lacked hygiene.  ut all of a sudden, in Acts 10, God told Peter that he could eat everything, that God had declared all these animals clean. Did they suddenly become healthy, too?

Here’s what I think, and I am just speculating here, because honestly, I don’t know. There is a similar question that may help. Why did God choose Israel? Why didn’t he choose the Egyptians or the Canaanites or some other people group. Certainly, it wasn’t because the Israelites were better or healthier or less repulsive than the others. They weren’t. God chose them because he is God and he gets to choose. He may have his reasons (he may not), but he does not have to tell us, and he didn’t. He simply chose. It may sound arbitrary, but I’m eternally grateful he chose me, and I didn’t give him a good reason to do that, either.  

He called his people to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart, to be distinguished from what is common. The declaration of clean and unclean reminded the Israelites that God demands purity through obedience and sacrifice. We obey God, not necessarily because it makes sense or benefits us (it does), but because of who he is, the holy, good, righteous, full of grace, all-loving God of the heavens and the earth.

Daily Prayer

Holy God, You are good. May my life be holy, set apart for Your purposes. You have made me a saint, righteous because of the work of Your Son. You have filled me with Your Holy Spirit. Work Your salvation through me from the inside out. Take my desires and make them Yours, so that what I do will reflect Your character.

God, I have choices in front of me everyday, clean and unclean. May I discern the difference and choose wisely. May I trust in Your ways and follow closely.  

Amen

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Just Do It

Daily Reading

Leviticus 8-10

Daily Thought

Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron and priests of the tabernacle, offered unauthorized fire before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1-2). I’m not sure what the fire was, but it was wrong. So God sent his own fire, not to consume the offering, but to consume the offerers. God not only desires obedience, he demands it, especially from priests.

In the movie Hoosiers, Coach Dale had rules if you wanted to play basketball on his team. One was “Four passes before a shot.” By the end of the season, the discipline would make champions of the Hickory High basketball team, but early on, it made them boring, so one of the stars decided he knew better than the coach. He ignored the rule and started shooting instead of passing. He made some baskets. He got Hickory High back into the game. He excited the crowd. He infuriated the coach, and he got benched.

Near the end of the game, a Hickory high player fouled out, leaving four on the floor. “You need a fifth,” the referee informed the coach, and the disobedient star, the only player available, jumped up, ready to re-enter the game. Coach Dale sat him back down. “My team is on the floor.”

That’s what God said, with more emphasis (fire out of heaven and all that); “See those players who do what I say, they are my team.”

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, 
as in obeying the voice of the LORD? 
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” 
~1Samuel 15:22

Daily Prayer

Lord God, thank You for Your Word. It lights my path, and shows me how to live. It teaches me Your ways.

God, I tell You I love You. Let me show You, as well, by obeying everything You have taught me, by not only reading Your Word, but doing it.  

Amen

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Accept Jesus

Daily Reading

Leviticus 5-7

Daily Thought

God establishes a litany of sacrifices, the burnt, the grain, the sin, the guilt, the ordination, and peace offering, and he meticulously lays out his orders for each. He has instructions for the tabernacle, the priesthood, the altar, and the animals and grain. But even when it comes to worshipping God, we’d rather do it our own way. Our nature argues for personal choice, but God will have none of it. Our personal choice is what made the sacrifices necessary in the first place. 

The same is true today. We claim one faith is no better than another and all roads lead to God, but the truth is “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Said Jesus, “”I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The world preaches self-acceptance, but God’s acceptance is what we truly need (and actually desire).  

Daily Prayer

Righteous and Almighty God, You are holy and Your laws are good. I pray for Your kingdom to come in its fullness and restore Your reign on earth, as it is in heaven.

You have made righteousness available to me through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Death is the cost for my sins, and Your Son paid the penalty. Thank You for Your grace, Your forgiveness, Your sacrifice. I am Yours, purchased by the blood of Your Son. May my life be a daily sacrifice to You.

Amen

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The Eyes of God

Daily Reading

Leviticus 1-4

Daily Thought

Question: Why must the temple offerings be so violent and gruesome? For example, “Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (Leviticus 1:5). Yuch! And wasteful–completely destroying the best of the herd.

We easily speak of sin, almost trivially, at times. Certain lies are white. Venial sins are not mortal sins. If it doesn’t hurt anyone, it is argued, why not do it? Through the eyes of a sinner, sin appears ordinary. The Bible shows us our world through the eyes of God.

The Lord, our holy God, created the heavens and the earth and filled the earth with his creatures. At the very end, he created something special, something above and beyond, some ones in whom he placed his very image. Adam and Eve were holy, without blemish, until they sinned, and their sin, though slight by a sinner’s standard (eating a mere piece of fruit), was catastrophic. You could say it was violent and gruesome and wasteful if you saw it through the eyes of a holy God.

God’s image remains in us, though badly marred, and we do not readily recognize the destructive force of sin, nor the amazing mercy of a holy God who provides forgiveness. The offerings, though violent and gruesome, remind us of purity lost and damage done. They are a foreshadowing of the great cost of sin paid in full by the sacrifice of One like us, though without blemish, Son of Man and Son of God, who took the full force of sin and wrath, and restored us as holy sons and daughters of a holy God.  

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, what a wonderful creation. I see it today through the smog of sin, but the glory of Your handiwork is still evident. Someday, to see it restored, to live in a holy Kingdom filled with righteousness and peace, what a wonderful hope. I’m so sorry for the damage I do when I choose my own way. Thank You for rescuing me.

God, do not let me make light of sin. Remind me of its harmfulness and its cost, so that I will hate it as You do, and love grace all the more. I have the good news of my Savior, Your Son, to share to this world. You saved me with an amazing love. Thank You.

Amen

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Details

Daily Reading

Exodus 39-40

Daily Thought

Reading through Exodus would not take as long if Moses would stop repeating himself. He wrote God’s instructions, such as “make the ark of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, with four rings of gold and poles of acacia wood, to these exact dimensions” (Exodus 25:10-14), then he repeated the same instructions with the Israelite’s obedience, “We made the ark of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, with four rings of gold and poles of acacia wood, to these exact dimensions” (Exodus 37:1-5). Moses wrote how God wanted the tabernacle designed, then he wrote everything all over again when he described how they built it. All the details, over and over, repeating the same words. What God commanded and what the people did in response were the same. That is obedience.

Moses and the people of Israel were learning to obey God, down to the very details. “This Moses did; according to all that the LORD commanded him, so he did” (Exodus 40:16). Moses wanted this emphasized to the Israelites (and to us), so he repeated the details, because the details are important.  

Many centuries later, Jesus said, “”If you love me, you will keep my commandments”  (John 14:15). His final instructions to his disciples included, “make disciples …teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). One of his disciples, John, reminds us, “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments” (1John 2:3). The details are important. 

Daily Prayer

My Lord my God, Your ways are so good. They take me the right direction in life. It baffles me why I don’t follow them always, because when I get off Your path, I find myself in trouble.  Help me keep my eyes on You. Remind me that I belong to Your Kingdom, not to this world.  

I pray, God, that I would shine Your glory into a dark world that needs the light. Like salt, that I would bring out the best and preserve goodness. To do this, Father, I must love Your Word and follow it. May I be as devoted to you as you are devoted to me already. May I delight in you as you delight in me already. May I love because you first loved me.

Amen