Culture Shift

I was reading in exodus last night in bed. I think it was close to chapter 26. It spoke of consecrating Aaron and his two sons for the work of a priest. It went into detail about the clothes they are to wear, but then it went on to a consecration ceremony. Reading this is pretty weird.

Sacrifice a bull and poor some of it's blood on the alter. Take it's liver and kidneys and burn them on the alter. Then get rid of rest of it by burning it outside of the area.

Take a ram and sprinkle it's blood on the sides of the alter. Put some blood on the right ear lob, right thumb, right big toe. Cut the body in pieces and burn it.

Take another ram and perpare it for food. Aaron and his sons now eat this at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

When I read that i was thinking of how different things were. Could you imagine being there for this? I don't know if I could handle the sight of all that blood. But then I thought about it some more, and this was the culture they were raised in. It wasn't really all that different, it was part of their lives. I think I lose a bit perspective sometimes, and reading this helps put in perspective what our sin does. We are sinners, and it requires blood to be made clean. This isn't just a figure of speech, it requires blood. The life of Christ was poured out as an offering for our sins.

Sin and Confession

I don't know about rest of you, but I enjoy having Julie in my life. It is wonderful to have someone that I can be so real with. Even with my family it isn't the same. But with my wife I let her know me. All the good and all the bad. It is a wonderful thing to be able to talk to someone about specific sins I have done and be able to be encouraged.

Sometimes I wonder why I feel so protective around others. Why I hide things I feel shame for. Would I be rejected? I doubt it. Is shame really so bad that it has to be avoided? Even to decrease the closeness of a relationship? Would the relationships in the church be better if we truly opened up to others? Probably. Am I willing to step up? Not yet.

Freedom

1 Corithians 10: 23 says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

But often times verse 24 is left out.  "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor."

I'm not sure how many times I have used verse 23 to excuse some sort of behavior or action.  If other people have a concern/problem with something then maybe it shouldn't be excused so easily.  Especially if that person is also a believer.  Christians are supposed to be different, there is something magnetic about a new life in Christ, and they need to see that.  

So the question may be if verse 23 is still true.  Yes it is, but take into account how things are veiwed by others. 

Sorry for the hurt I caused

Last night I was looking through the life response notes from church, and the question I was reading dealt with how things could be different if we focused more on how sin effected God rather than its effect on others.

It relates to Psalm 51:4

But I can really see this, we focus so much on the effect of our sin on others or ourselves, and we fail to see how it is a sin against God. We have hurt God. We have hurt our relationship with God. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. He sacrificed Jesus so that our sins would be forgiven, yet when we sin we gloss over how that effects God. But we should feel a strong conviction, and then confess our sin to God so that we can restore our fellowship with Him.