Look At The Mess I Made!

A short time ago, I finished rereading Exodus and Leviticus. One of the immediate things I thought was "Sin is messy!". Sin is messy and required more messiness to correct it. The altar was not a clean place, it was a sanctified place. Being a Levite wasn't a clean job, it was a holy job. There are big differences between the first and latter parts.

Somehow I magically assumed the Levites were slaughtering these animals without getting messy themselves. Maybe I watched too many Chips episodes! On there the mechanic Harlan NEVER got dirty. He wore a white lab coat in almost every scene, fixed cars, and never had a speck of dirt on him! No stray grease stain. No blackened hands or dirty fingernails. To this day, every time he is "working" in an episode, I get angry. I realize that their portrayal of him is both unrealistic and impossible, Just like a spotless mechanic is implausible, so is a clean altar. The altar is where sin was rectified or dealt with and because sin is messy, the altar was messy.

Undoubtedly, I know I could never "hack it" as a Levite! There was so much detail and method to every sacrifice brought before the Lord. If it wasn't done a 100% right, then it wasn't right. To attest to this, read about the multiple Old Testament priests that died not keeping the standard. At first, this seemed so harsh that this is what God required for forgiveness. However going back to my first observation, sin is messy, gives insight to some of the answer.

Part of the reason I believe God required such a labor intensive production for forgiveness was to deter us from sin. There are no big sins or small sins, there is just sin. Sin moves in opposition to a Holy and blameless God and caused a divide between Him and His people. Sin cost them. It impaired their communion or unity with God. Sin always costs something. It's always more than you intended to give or lose. In light of this, Old Testament redemption cost a great deal. It cost their best.

Whenever God required an offering, it was always the best. Give the best of your livestock, grains, and crops. Give to God what you'd be tempted to want to keep. If I want to make this right I need to give what's right. This is also a foreshadowing of Jesus. God required the Israelites to give their best because one day God would give His best once and for all in the form of Jesus.

Not losing sight of sin and it's mess, this still holds true today. Yes, God forgives us 100% by just asking for it, but to make it right may require us to get messy. What do I mean? A while ago I lost my temper with my oldest child. I could feel myself losing control but, ignored the Holy Spirit's warnings. I said things I shouldn't have and used a volume and tone I shouldn't have. God instantly forgave me when I asked. Nevertheless to make it right with my daughter, required me to get messy. I had to get messy to clean up the mess I made. To make it right I had to expose that what I did was wrong and I'm not perfect. I erased that facade of being Harlan the spotless mechanic and showed I'm Rena, the imperfect parent. I had to allow myself to be raw, cut open, and exposed in the pseudo altar of our car where I corrected my wrong. This is why it's best not to sin in the first place. There is always the initial cost and then sometimes a repair cost. Sin is messy.

Again, I'm always amazed at the depths the Israelites had to go to obtain forgiveness. Thank God that Jesus became the once and for all sacrificial Lamb. Although the process of forgiveness has been simplified, the ripple effects of our bad choices can still remain. Sin often causes a chain reaction. Oftentimes someone is indirectly or directly affected. So what can we do? The goal is always not to sin in the first place and each day be more and more like Christ. However, we will and do fall short. When that happens we can take on the role of the Levite and do what is needed to rectify the wrong. What needs to be brought to the altar? How can I make what I did right? I don't aim to make it right through legalism or for fear of condemnation because scripture is clear on that. (Romans 8:1) We are simply walking out another scripture that is both a charge and warning.

James 4:17 says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

We may want to stop at asking God's forgiveness and ignore any more responsibility, but that's not right. Don't ignore when God is ushering you to do more. It may be going and confessing to the injured party, returning what you stole with the possibility of further consequences, or confessing the lie to the person you lied to. What this will look like is between you and God. However James 4:17 is a warning that ignoring what God is leading us to do is wrong and sin. Just because we can drown out our conscience doesn't erase it. Just because we reposition the standard doesn't mean the standard actually changed. I believe God is calling us in these last days to a new and higher level of accountability and responsibility for our actions. This isn't because He somehow became holier, but that the world has become more unholy. The more the divide, the more it takes to stay on the right side of it.