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You’re Sick! Get To The Doctor

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Sick

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 13

Before the invention of remote controls, I would fight my way for that television dial every day after school to watch Little House on the Prairie. There was something about Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert) and those braids that made me nuts – I loved that show. I used to imagine what it would be like to get sick back in those Little House days. Poor Doc would pull up in his fancy carriage and wrap a wet, white cloth over their foreheads and pray. He was limited in what he could do without a modern-day, high tech, super sterilized surgical practice.

Going back hundreds of years to the days of Moses. Reading Leviticus 13 reminded me of Doc, but in this chapter the mighty physician was the Priest. Wow! Talk about wearing many hats. The thing is that the book of Leviticus is a book about sin and God is showing us that Leprosy and running issues of the flesh shows the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the effect of sin in action.

No man ever went wrong overnight. Leprosy did not kill in a day—it is not like a heart attack. The leper’s life was a walking death. Just so, the sinner is also dead even while he lives. It is obvious from these passages that the raw flesh is the old nature which was judged on the cross. When it manifests itself in a believer, God must judge it. The flesh can never please God; only that which the Holy Spirit produces in the life of the believer is acceptable to God.

Two things jump out at me in Levitius 13. The number of times you read the word “Isolation or Isolated” and the phrase, “The priest will pronounce him clean.” This is sin! Sin isolates us from God and is a growing, disease that corrupts our lives. While Christ covers that sin and pronounces us “Clean!”

Oh Friends. What a glorious story of hope buried between the ‘not so obvious’ message hidden in Leviticus chapter 13. It’s a beautiful picture of what Christ has done for us and the gruesome hopeless, loneliness, isolated, withdrawn, lost place we will be without Him. It’s a perfect day to check your spiritual temperature and recognize who your Holy healer is.

“Food” For Thought

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Food for Thought

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 11

WOW! My mind is spinning from what this chapter means in its literal sense while seeing the spiritual side and huge underlying message that God wants us to read, hear, and apply.

First, let me say that I am impressed (and relieved) that my diet actually fits God’s criteria. I am not even remotely interested in eating reptiles, insects with jointed legs, things that slither along the ground or camels. Even the thought of it makes me uncomfortable, so if the Old Testament list of forbidden foods were applicable today, I would be just fine – Yay!

But its not that easy. What God is really trying to teach us in this chapter is that a Christian cannot mingle with the world and play with sin without becoming contaminated. There are numerous examples in this chapter of how an unclean animal cannot be cleaned and will make those who touch it, look at it, or the canister that it dies in unclean.

This is one of my struggles as a Christian. I think this is one of those things that makes us realize we need to put ourselves into this nice little bubble. Go to church, hang out with other nice Christians, send our kids to Christian schools, and not associate or participate in that ‘worldly’ stuff like those heathens. We guard our hearts against “R” rated movies, we don’t drink, swear, lie, cheat, steal, etc. I once heard the phrase, “Those Christians squeak when we walk.” YIKES!

Then there is the opposite of that over-the-top Christian life. Those who participate in everything that the world participates and there is no evidence of Christ, fruit of the Spirit, or repentant heart. To the extent that you tell people that you’re going to church and they respond with, “Really?!” As if they are in pure shock that someone “like you” has a moral side. Clearly the extreme, but do you know people like that? Sadly I do and even more sad – I have had my seasons where I’m no exception. My admission sends me right back to the foot of the cross right here and now.

I teach kids of my Sunday School class, “Christians are called to be in the world, not of the world.” In other words, we live here and we are members of our communities, neighborhoods, workplaces, etc., but we are the examples of who Jesus is as we interact in them. Jesus didn’t hide himself behind the walls of a nice, safe Christian home in a nice, safe Christian crowd. He hung out with the sinners. Difference is… He didn’t sin. He stood up for what was right, had compassion on the lost, orphaned, widowed, sick, defeated, discouraged, and broken, but didn’t compromise His heavenly calling to “fit in.”

This chapter is a reminder that God knows that sin contaminates our lives and the more we sin, the less likely we are or have the ability to be associated with Him. He’s protecting us. Even though sin is inevitable – there are those things that we just know to avoid and verse 45 says it best, “I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.”

Sassy Mouth

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mouth

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 5

We have all heard the phrase, “Ignorance is no exception to the law.” I don’t like that phrase. It basically says, “Even if you have no clue about what is taking place, you’re guilty by association.” That, my friends, is a very helpless place to be. It implies that just because you are physically present to the crime, you are a criminal. If you are in proximity of a robbery, you are a thief. If you hang around with people who are gossips, you are a gossiper and if you are in the company of slobs, you are a slob. True or not – God is saying intentionally or unintentionally, aware or unaware, we are guilty.

Verse 4 jumps out at me, “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.”

My paraphrase, “Don’t make promises that you aren’t going to keep or carelessly swear.” Do you know what I think is the most misused, but unintentional sins. Saying the words, “I will pray for you.” How many times have you become aware of someone’s hardships and you throw out these words aloofly. Perhaps you really planned to pray and forgot? I’ll go ahead and throw myself under the bus here, “I’m guilty!” Because of this, I make a point of NOT saying that phrase unless I mean it and WILL do it. None-the-less, I think it proves that point that God is making in Leviticus 5:4.

Then there is that tongue of ours; James 3:7-8 says, “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” It was amazing when I first became a believer, God cleaned up my language. Slowly and over time some of those nasty little verbs have crept back into my vocabulary.

Leviticus 5 is a reminder to me today (and hopefully you) to become more consciously aware of my sin and clean up my act. At the same time, this chapter has made me aware what I will continue to fail AND there may be a host of things that I don’t even know I need to clean up, fix, or stop doing. The Holy Spirit is our counselor, so I have every confidence that He will prompt us to become aware of our shortcomings, but at the same time we can have peace that Christ covered them all – past, present, and future. I’m reminded, once again, to turn my eyes to the cross and humble myself to all Christ has done for me – even stuff I don’t even realize He has covered. Isn’t that a beautiful picture of God’s grace?

The Source Of Guilt

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hands in prayer

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 4

Like the first four chapters and those yet to come, this chapter has a theme – a big theme. Sins of ignorance; sins of the priest; sins of the congregation; sins of the ruler; sins of the common people; the law of the sin offering.

To rephrase this, the following are not exempt from sin: People who don’t know any better, Pastor’s, the church-goers, government authorities, you and me. That pretty much covers everybody! Notice something a bit more disturbing. Look at these verses…

2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—

13 ” ‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt.

22 ” ‘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.

27 ” ‘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.

Two words are repeated throughout this chapter,  sins unintentionally and realize their guilt. WOW! In other words, people that don’t even know that they are sinning will feel guilty about it. I can relate.

Have you ever had the silent treatment from someone who is mad at you, but you don’t know what you did wrong or why they are upset or mad; you could just tell that something wasn’t right? Even without knowing the cause you give that person a gift and try to get back in good graces with them because you don’t like the tension or dissonance. You have no idea what you might have done, but you want to make it right – if it isn’t your fault – at least try to cheer them up. Meanwhile you are doing a search of yourself trying to figure out what you did or said that would have hurt or offended them?

I think this is what this chapter is trying to teach us. I’m not trying to say we need to live our lives in guilt and constantly fight for His love, attention and forgiveness. What I am trying to say is that through our love of God, we desire to please Him.

I feel sorry for those who don’t have a relationship. No one is exempt – even those who don’t know any better. That explains why we, sinners, feel that something is missing in our lives. We mess up. We may not even be aware of it, but our guilt draws us toward God and helps us realize we need Him.

I pray that this chapter would have us praying, not only for our own shortcomings, but the hearts of the lost whom God is trying to get their attention. Those burdened with guilt and don’t understand its source. Bring Him an offering of prayer and acknowledge Him. I say this as I bend my knee right now…

Sin Is Dark – Be The Light

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Grim_reaper

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 3

I began my collegiate career as an accounting major. Shockingly, my first class was Accounting 101 and I failed my first test – I was shocked! This was the basic stuff, simple debits and credits – this wasn’t supposed to happen. I went to the teacher and he said words that forever changed my life, “Perhaps an accounting career isn’t for you.”

I did what every confused college student would do, I called Mom. Mom did a self analysis of the job market and realized I had a higher probability of getting  a job as a nurse, so that was her recommendation. Once again, I was excited, guided and I enrolled in a bunch of labs my second semester – Biology, Chemistry and Anatomy, Oh My! I remember looking at my lab partner in Anatomy and she could barely wait to cut into that disgusting, formaldehyde smelling, slimy frog. I was literally ill. It was that moment that I knew the medical field wasn’t for me.

So I’m having this flashback as I’m reading Leviticus 3. This chapter gives a vivid description of the peace offering and its not a very pretty picture – at least to us. This pleased God and the reason sacrifice was necessary is because of sin, they didn’t have Jesus yet; God’s perfect sacrifice to cover their sin. This particular offering speaks of the communion and fellowship of believers with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way you and I can come to God is through Jesus Christ. He is the Way!

God never accepted the blood of bulls and goats as the final payment for sin, but He required that blood be shed. It was an atonement to cover over the sins until Christ came. In other words, God saved “on credit” in the Old Testament. When Christ came, as the hymn accurately states it, “Jesus paid it all.” This is true as far as the past is concerned, and as far as the present is concerned, and as far as the future is concerned.

Furthermore, I am reading this in the early morning of Halloween. Today is a day when my neighborhood will be busy with Zombies, Grim Reapers, and little Freddie’s. As you now know I’m not a fan of bloody gore and shouldn’t surprise you that I’m not a fan of Halloween either. I don’t like the dark side of this day – God is light in the darkness. Darkness represents sin and sin is disgusting, stinky, and slimy to God. Whether its killing animals who are without defect or our surrendered lives, there is no question that we need a savior – He gave one to us. Let’s give him our best today and be light in the darkness on this Halloween day.

Picture Perfect

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bread

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 2

Bread. My parents had an eight track tape that I remember listening to called, “The Best of Bread.” My favorite song on that album was the song, “If.” The first line of that song was, “If a picture paints a thousand words, than why can’t I paint you. The words will never show, the you I’ve come to know.”

The offerings in Leviticus speak of the person of Christ and of the work of Christ. The burnt offering in chapter 1 was a picture of Christ in depth as well as in death. The meal offering reveals the humanity of Jesus in all its perfection and loveliness. Somehow, some way, the song lyrics I haven’t heard for decades comes back to me and reminds me of my relationship with Christ, “The words will never show, the you I’ve come to know.”

Perhaps that is what God is doing in this book. He’s trying to take the picture of his son Jesus and describe him, or paint a picture of Him, in a way that we can conceptualize who He is. He’s complex and no one ever walked this planet who what like Him. How do you put that into words. Then to put another twist on it, “It’s prophesy!” This was written thousands of years before Jesus even came to earth.

This is evidence of the trinity – God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I used to get all hung up on this, “How can God be three persons in one?” God created the earth and then Jesus shows up and then the Holy Spirit enters the picture?… NO! They were there all along. God is revealing them to us in the Old Testament and Leviticus 2 is describing it here.

Have you ever imagined trying to explain Christ to someone? Sure there is the Sunday school version, “All you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and you’ll go to heaven,” but it’s not that simple is it?

God is using a word picture and this chapter happens to be a meal offering that God is describing. There is no shedding of blood, so that alone makes this one different and there are two important aspects of this offering: the ingredients which are included and the ingredients which are excluded. Essentially it is the picture the perfect humanity of Christ.

New Beginnings and a Treasure Hunt

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Treasure

Today’s Devotional: Leviticus 1

Welcome! I have been on this chapter-a-day journey through the bible since early July 2013. I created this blog and Facebook page the day after I met Elina and Nikki, whom I didn’t know very well at the time. We immediately bonded as sisters in Christ. We were practically strangers, but they shared biblical wisdom to help me out of a pit I recently climbed into, it was if God put them in my life at that perfect time and the very next morning I prayed to thank God for my Godly Girlfriends and that was the day Godly Girlfriends began.

So it was like I had this new baby, but didn’t know what to do with it. I knew one thing for sure, I wasn’t plugged into God’s Word, a bible study, or any discipline that would help me grow and deepen my relationship with Christ. So I thought if I wasn’t, perhaps others would benefit from an online day-to-day reading plan – and here we are.

Friendships are developed, strengthened, and maintained through commonalities and shared experiences. I would say wherever you are in live or physically reside on the planet, if you are a follower of Christ we have commonality. This blog makes our relationship a bit one sided on my part because I’m sharing my stories, revealing my heart and expressing my insights, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Communicate with a comment on this blog or a post on our Facebook page or if you run into great quotes, pictures, stories, so please pass them along.

All that to say, “Welcome to Leviticus 1!” It’s a fresh start, a new beginning and an opportunity for you to continue your walk with the Lord alongside of me; not only getting to know me better, but, more importantly, for you to deepen your relationship with Christ. Like anything, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. I see God at work in my heart and in my life like I have never seen Him before.

In Leviticus 1 is a new day for God too. He has moved off of Mount Sinai and into the Tabernacle and what a new beginning this is for the Iraelites. Leviticus is the book of worship. Sacrifice, ceremony, ritual, liturgy, instructions, washings, convocations, holy days, observances, conditions, and warnings crowd this book. All these physical exercises were given to teach spiritual truths.

I have heard that the book of Leviticus is not the best reading, but you know what? It’s in God’s Word for a very special reason. If you like a good treasure hunt, let’s find the treasures in Leviticus together.

God Takes Up Residence

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Heart home

Today’s Devotional: Exodus 40.

Another milestone day. Today we conclude our study through Exodus and what a finish. Verse 34 says, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle,” and so it is with our hearts.

When God is so dominant in our lives and we allow His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, there is no room for anything else and THAT is what true fulfillment looks like. It is a peace beyond all understanding and a  confidence that you can’t find anywhere else.

We risk getting all religious and churchy to get there though. We think that the only way to truly fill our hearts with God is to get busy in religious activities and begin a lifestyle that is so rigid and rule-bound that we exhaust ourselves. What I’m talking about is a relationship with God. Think about it – What happens when you are in a relationship with someone? You think about them constantly, you go out of your way to serve them and you communicate about everything.

Some of my friends know my deepest, darkest secrets… So does God.

I have friends going through some tough times and I want to be there for them because I love and care about them… So does God about you and me.

When I have ‘stuff’ in my life, my friends check-in because they’re worried about me and what to see how I’m doing… God does more than just check-ins, He’s in the valleys with us too.

I call on a friend when I need sounding-board to make a good decision or clarify a situation before I react to it… so should I with God, FIRST!

You see, I love the visual of the cloud covering the tabernacle and being so filled with God that even Moses couldn’t get in. That picture for me is God filling my heart and there is no room for Sarah to get in. You know I’m bound to work all things out for MY own selfish agenda, prone to tell God what I want and beg Him to give me the desires of MY heart. Even worse, I will try to justify ugly self as not being so bad or better than so-and-so. Truth is, when there is no room for me, I’m better for it.

I pray God takes up residence in our hearts this week and WE LET HIM. God takes over to the point where there just isn’t room for us to control or manipulate our circumstances for our own outcomes and desires. Allowing our lives to be a product of His outcomes and His desires. What a powerful conclusion to the book of Exodus and powerful beginning to our day and week.

May God fully bless you and fill every crevice of our hearts.

Window Of Your Heart

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window

Today’s Devotion: Exodus 39.

Today we learn about the exquisite details of Aaron’s robe – one that would give the best dresser on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards a run for their money. There is so much detail, color, gold, and special patterns in the design that I can only imagine what it looks like. This chapter has my imagination running wild so here’s my story:

I remember going to church with my family on Sunday’s and, out of boredom, I would analyze every detail of the church. I would study the slivers of specially cut stained glass in the huge sanctuary windows, I would watch “the man in a dress” parade up and down the stairs to and from the pulpit. I observed the choir in their V-shaped sashes draped over their shoulders responding in a very formal way to the baton of the choir directors wand. I often wondered why human beings acted so different in church. These people would visit our farm and act “normal”, but in church, the transformation in their behavior kind of freaked me out.

I was reminded of this reading Exodus 39. We are coming to the end of the book of Exodus and after reading about the tabernacle and God’s incredible expectations around the conduct that He expected of people using the tabernacle. Now I see why people acted differently – it was out of respect for God.

You see, when I would watch everyone in church doing their thing in an “out of character” sort of way, I thought it was all for show. Fast-forward a few decades and as an adult I now realize that it wasn’t for show at all – it was worship demonstrating respect and honor to God.

So now many of our churches have become less fancy and I see another behavior; our hearts are connected there. I see hands raised, eyes closed, heads down and souls connected. These people aren’t putting on a show for man either – They are connecting their mind, body, and spirit to God.

In the New Testament – the church is the body of Christ and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to get all ritualistic and formal, yet some still prefer to worship that way. Regardless of the style in which we worship, one thing hasn’t changed – our respect, honor and reverence to a Holy God. As we go to church tomorrow, be reminded that whatever style of worship you participate – its not about the show, it’s about your heart.

 

The Devil Will Devour

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Roaring_Lion

Today’s Devotion: Exodus 38.

The construction of the tabernacle continues and this is a big deal. In the New Testament we have Christ and He became our sacrifice. In the Old Testament God is very deliberate about every detail of the tabernacle because it is the only way that the Israelities can to come to God and repent of their sins.

One thing that I wondered as I read Exodus 38 this morning is, “Where is the devil in all of this?”  In all the components of the tabernacle and God’s carefully articulated plan reminds me of the old saying, “The devil is in the details.” In this case…. I don’t think so. There is no mention of him. You don’t read that the devil comes along to confuse God’s instructions, cause delays in the project, cause friction and discord between the workers or mess with God’s order, or is he?

This is only my speculation so you can do with it as you wish, but I have a hunch that the devil is working on the Israelities. There are thousands of people in the desert with Moses. God is giving them a tabernacle because THEY NEED IT! The devil is Bizzzzzzy on those Israelites, God just isn’t giving any attention to him for the time being.

You see, the way I’m personalizing this message is that I get up every morning, go to God’s Word. I pray, study, blog, and allow God’s word expand my biblical world view – Yet – the devil is just waiting his turn. He knows I’m prone to sin so when given the chance to do something contrary to how God teaches me to live my life, he’s ready to pounce. Look at Peter’s warning in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

So even though God isn’t acknowledging the devil in this pages doesn’t mean he isn’t there. Oh, he’s there alright. Not that we want to give the devil any time and attention in our lives either, but we also can’t be naive that he is waiting to take us down with discouragement, disbelief, doubts, fear and any other obstacle he can put in our way to distract us from what is important… God. We need to keep our focus on the Lord, so much so, that there just isn’t a reason to mention the devil or allow him the opportunity to intrude on God’s plan for our lives and construction in our hearts.