Sunday, July 5, 2009

Hebrews 9

Hebrews does such a good job of explaining how Christ changed things from how they were in the Old Testament. I don't know who wrote it, but I'm glad he explained things to the Hebrews so clearly because we today, having read the OT too, can get the overall picture so much better because of it. Certainly one of those books where you don't have to wonder why God included it in the Bible.

In Galatians 5, Paul says that it was for freedom that Christ set us free. And when you read through Hebrews, you see how everything in the whole Old Testament was created to point out to us that we were in fact slaves to our sin nature. The law and the Tabernacle and the sacrifices and everything about the old covenant just shows us how completely in need of rescue we are.

And so God, in His infinite mercy, sent His own Son to earth as a finite human. He came to set us free from the power sin had over our lives. An old Petra song from the 80s said, "All over me. All over me. I've got the blood of an innocent man all over me." Do I really meditate on the incredible meaning of that? That the blood of Jesus Christ has been sprinkled all over me to remove completely all traces of every sin I've ever committed? I don't think I do near enough. Old songs like this should be an almost constant soundtrack to my life. Reminding me again and again of the great price paid for my freedom.

So in that freedom, is it OK for me to continue to sin? What a slap in the face that must be. Which makes me think of another old Petra song, "It must be like another nail right through your wrist. It must be just like Judas' kiss." It's got to stop. I've got to use that freedom to make me run from sin and toward His grace.

Tonight, as I think about the freedom given to me in this country, purchased at the cost of the blood of countless patriots, I think about how I would never consider wanting to leave this freedom and pledge my allegiance elsewhere. But in the same way, I don't want a cavalier attitude about little nagging sins to commit treason against my real homeland. To quote one of my favorite cousins, "I want to live in a way that only makes sense because of God." And that's free from sin.

1 comments:

Bea said...

Amen We can not take lightly our freedom in the USA, nor in Christ Jesus!! Thank you, God, for both.