This year in Bible Study Fellowship we are studying the Life of Moses, which encompasses the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Have you read them lately? They are difficult books to read because of all the laws and regulations in them. One thing that has become increasingly clear is that God spent a lot of time spelling out to the Israelite's what He would consider to be clean and unclean behaviors that would separate them from the nations around them. Then He spent considerable time providing explanations of the sacrifices that would need to be made when the Israelite's participated in the unclean and through those sacrifices they would once again be clean in the eyes of God.
When the Israelite's just out right rebelled against God and wouldn't repent, they met God's wrath and He would destroy them. At times I caught myself asking how can that God of wrath be the same God of grace? And yet there are several times where Moses intercedes for the people or even more of them would have been struck down dead which shows the compassionate side of God.
We are blessed to live on this side of the cross where if we accept Jesus as our Savior and are buried with Him in baptism, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and grace from then to eternity covers a multitude of our sins. The definition of grace according to Miriam Webster is " unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification". According to Wikipedia grace is "the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it." Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." So yes grace is a gift and it covers a multitude of my sins. I no longer have to offer an animal sacrifice and bring it to a priest to present to the Lord for me. Jesus died once and for all that his blood would forever cleanse me for all my sin. Hebrews 10:10 "...We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all."
What has caught my attention in the Moses study is how often I have misused God's grace. It it a gift, but does it mean I just live life the way I want and expect grace to cover me? 2 Timothy 1:9 says I have been called to a holy life, "He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace." I was called to a holy life! What does that mean? Miriam Webster defines it as: "exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness." I Peter 1:15-16 says "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do, for it is written 'be holy because I am holy.'"
I confess that I have spent much more time walking the line of how close to the edge can I get and not sin than how close can I walk to holiness. I have way too often allowed myself to be polluted by the things of the world instead of aiming for holiness. The area where I struggle the most is entertainment. I enjoy movies especially and I spend quite a bit of time watching television. Sometimes pride sets in as I think what I am watching isn't as bad as it could be. But can I say what I am watching is moving me closer to holiness? Recently I was having a conversation with someone about the movie "American Sniper" and they were telling me how great of a movie it was. I said "I couldn't go see it since I read it had the "f" word in it 100+ times as well as other language. They replied "oh, that is just the way they talk in the Service". I was struck by the fact that in 1939 one word, the word "damn" was considered an outrage in a movie and in 2015, the foulest word said 100 times doesn't cause us to blink? And don't even get me started on "50 Shades Of Gray" and how what we do in our private bedrooms is our business?? See I can start looking at others and think that I am doing a pretty good job but if I turn my comparisons to God and how holy am I living it is an entirely different equation. Romans 6:1 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means!"
I am thankful that I am not under the law and I am under grace, but I hope I will remember that grace was costly. It cost Jesus his life. I pray that more and more I can make decisions that will move me toward holiness and not compromise.
