Leviticus 5
continues with themes of sin, offering, slaughter, blood, sprinkle etc etc.
| Sinning is going to happen. No one will say they have done (thought, said) anything wrong, or have not wronged others. |
| Equally affirmative is that there is a way out when we sin. And that way can be perfect, once and for ever. Not that we will never sin. The point is that Jesus is our live link to full reconciliation with God himself because Jesus is God himself. |
Certainly, there are cases where we are not on the wrong.
- For example, we were not there, the words or actions were not from us, even indirectly or by implication.
- However, there is the searching of heart and mind. It’s not that we should be searching for any traces that we could be wrong. Equally we don’t search for any traces that another person is wrong.
Don’t wait. If we are in the wrong, seek forgiveness. God forgives, and we are set from from what’s weary and heavy laden with concerns, guilt and doubt.
… a ram without blemish
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It was 2 years I came to forgive someone, not on a personal level, but I was hanging on to things that should work while this person had completely different ideas. The friction was apparent but not in a personal way. For myself, I had to learn to forgive and let go. And the end, it was myself to forgive about, without that it would be a blockage not only in myself but also a stain in my relationship with God.
If any of you sin without knowing it, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, you have incurred guilt, and are subject to punishment.
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Don’t wait. If we are not in the wrong, move on: harbouring on who else is wrong, or why I am right, is probably not best course of action or thought. Pray and hand over the situation to God and he will provide the best in his time.
Having forgiven the person, God lifted me out of this great “waiting room” that I sort of knew and felt I was in. It’s possible that the 2-year period was a recovery process for me, a sort of slow growing up. When God took me out of it, I could feel the “waiting room” was like a stain in the relationship I have with God that he wanted to get rid of, on the ground that I recognise it and let go of it.
Don’t wait. Leviticus 5 sets out a range of situations where we should recognise sin is committed and rather than harbouring and pondering how we could get out of being wrong, recognise the error, and accept the live link to Jesus to return fully to God, removing the stain in the relationship.
If you are officially summoned to give evidence in court and do not give information about something you have seen or heard, you must suffer the consequences.
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Don’t wait. Leviticus 5 does not cover all instances of how we can be wrong for which we seek forgiveness. Jesus, as recorded in the New Testament, has taken the Old Testament, including Leviticus, to completion in him – what this means is that Jesus had offered himself as the sin offering to die in our place, not that he sinned, he did not, but he willingly died for us. Without that live link he provided for us, there is going to be no way, absolutely no way, we could “better” ourselves, to get ourselves out of the mess and sinful situation we are in.
When you realise your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed.
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Don’t wait. Leviticus 5 reminds us that God has provided many ways for us to return to him, and the final way is the greatest – Jesus. Leviticus 5 is not to be treated, as we read it today (from New Testament perspective), as a checklist of what is sin, how to be forgiven, with what, by whom, when, where and so on. The final and greatest way in Jesus has done all that for us. Don’t wait. Seek forgiveness if you have wronged others including God, find peace in God.
Jesus instructed people not to think that he had come to abolish the law or the prophets; in fact he came to fulfil it. Every little bit of the text will stand for fulfilment even to the end of civilisation and universe.That means, treating God’s word without full attention is bad approach because you will have nothing to start with in heaven, a little bit like empty-handed.Compare that to those who have taken heed of God’s word, they will be considered “great” in the kingdom of heaven.If we really want to speak in terms of righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, then your righteousness must exceed theirs. If not, the kingdom of heaven is not for you.
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