I finished off yesterday’s post by concluding that the believer has been called out to serve the Lord “with 100% commitment and perfection.”
Unfortunately, this is something we’ll never achieve this side of heaven.
Because if you’ve already committed even one sin in your life up until now, you’re out of the game already.
Yet we are still called to strive with all of our heart, soul and mind to meet the standard God has set before us in His Word.
That’s what the Torah is for: to show us what PERFECT service to the Lord looks like.
Otherwise, how would we know?
Of course, the Lord knew His people wouldn’t be able to meet His perfect standard.
That’s why He established the Levitical sacrificial system.
So whenever an Israelite failed, he could offer a sacrifice for his sin.
The Levitical sacrificial system also physically demonstrated to the worshipper just how serious sin was in God’s eyes.
Because with each failure, another animal had to be killed (not all sacrifices were blood sacrifices however).
These sins continued to pile up and were passed on throughout the generations.
However, the buck stopped with Yeshua.
His sacrifice was the final one needed and it was delivered in perfect service with perfect devotion.
Yeshua’s blood atoned for every failure ever committed past, present and future.
In one death dealing blow, the cosmic problem of sin was rectified for all time and forever.
Or to be more specific, 1300 years after Joshua posed the problem of sin to the people of Israel here in chapter 24, Yeshua came and took care of business.
And boy it was a long time in coming.
However, just because the perfect solution for sin was provided doesn’t mean our service to God has stopped.
Heck, in many ways it’s just beginning.
Remember it’s spiritual rest we’ve been given, not physical rest.
There remains a lot of work yet to be done for the kingdom.
And yes, it will be frustrating and tiring at times.
We will be disappointed in not only ourselves but other believers who we may judge as just not stepping up to the plate like they should.
Tears, anger (sometimes even rage) and bitterness will be unavoidable this side of heaven.
Yet in spite of the disappointments, we can rest assured our struggles are only temporary before we are ushered into God’s eternal shalom.
And when I say “shalom”, I’m talking about the things every person in the world really wants, if not unconsciously anyway, which is peace and well being.
Yet having said all that, a question still remains.
What if a person who has been saved and has entered into a personal relationship with the Creator wants to quit that relationship and serve another god?
Can he or she just casually walk away minus any consequences?
This is the question we’ll explore the next time we meet.
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