Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting. He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar; but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.”
(Leviticus 1:3-9)

“For though I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that my letter made you grieve, though just for a while. I now rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vindication! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter. So although I wrote to you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be revealed in you in the sight of God.“
(2 Corinthians 7:8-12)

The sacrifices that the Israelites brought to be accepted by Yahweh were an opportunity to draw near to God. Whatever the sacrifice was, it was to be something that helped the worshipper draw closer to God. Since a given sin would be something interfering with getting close to God, a given sacrifice would clear that sin by being the ransom for that sin-price in substitution. Instead of the person being guilty, the sacrifice would become guilty and pay the price. This covered the sin and enabled the worshipper to once again draw near to God and give their heart-felt worship. It took acknowledging that they had turned away from God into sin, it took a sacrifice of something of theirs, and it took a desire to be close to God. It was a VOLUNTARY act of devotion. commitment, and surrender to God’s point of view. It could be required, but it could not be forced.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had called out their negative behaviour. He had pointed out all the things they had done that were turning away from God. Their response was to acknowledge the pain they were feeling wasn’t selfish or human-centric pain. But it was the pain of realizing what they had missed. What they had lost. And it ignited in them a desire to get right. To turn away from the ungodly actions, words, and thoughts. To repent and turn back to God. Taking it as a VOLUNTARY opportunity to devote themselves once again to a committed surrender to God’s point of view. They chose to draw near to God.

Summary

God is RIGHTEOUS. Completely and totally. If we want to get close to Him, we need to get right with Him. We need to live lives of surrender. Not because we are forced to, but because of the awesome BLESSING that it is to be in accord with God Most High. Because of the JOY we can take in a relationship with Him. Because of the guidance and correction we can receive and benefit from. Because it is His rightful place in our lives. We don’t need to moan and groan about it. We don’t need to take a wrong attitude that we are horrible people. We can simply acknowledge where the pain is from, choose to repent, and walk away from that pain by embracing repentance, change, and a return to obedience surrender to God’s point of view.