“Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel ,saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord.” Leviticus 4:1-4 NKJV.
After reading through the beginning of Leviticus, one thing is for sure, everyday sin simply does not have the same weight it did back in the day. Think about it, we sin today, whether it be an innocent white lie, a lustful thought, or something as simple as spreading gossip and we don’t really give it a second thought. We may stop ourselves and think, “oh man, I really shouldn’t be thinking this” or “maybe I shouldn’t have said that” and that’s it! Everyday sin has been downplayed in today’s world. Think about the people that lived in the days of Moses, if they sinned they had to sacrifice their livestock! Even if their sin was unintentional, they still had to bring in a prized bull for the slaughter. I guarantee that if every time I sinned, even if unintentionally, I had to kill a bull I would look at sin in a whole new light. Sin would have real life consequences. What if every time you sinned, you had to sacrifice $100? I bet we would look at sin differently then!
Thankfully, Jesus Christ came down to Earth to die on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We no longer have to do these bloody, brutal rituals when we sin because Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice. We have been washed clean by the blood of the lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t downplay the severity of sin itself. Sin still weighs the same now as it did in the days of Moses. I encourage you to read through the book of Leviticus if haven’t already. I’m still reading it myself and it’s a very brutal book, but, for me at least, it has put sin back in perspective. I’m thankful for Jesus, I’m thankful that God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, chose to send His one and only Son down to earth to die on the cross for you and for me, so that we no longer have to do these brutal rituals to wash away our sins. We often take for granted the ability to simply ask for forgiveness today, that’s why I recommend reading through this book, so that you may see the true weight that sin has.
The Straight and Narrow 