Last night my family talked about how important it is that each of us help out around the house. Life is busy right now and our little team feels scattered instead of on the same page. The boys are afflicted with TML (teen memory loss) which shows symptoms such as repeatedly saying, " I forgot" or "In a minute" (which is never really a minute, in fact, often times it never happens!). So I prayed for ways to gently remind them. This morning my first inspiration came, I would leave little messages around the house in places that they would see them to jog their memories. I would start with the quote board:
I'm not sure what their reaction will be, but at least it will be on their minds for a little while!
Leviticus
So I started my study of Leviticus by looking for Christ and the Atonement in my reading. I thought I would look for words or phrases that could be tied back to Christ or the Atonement and underline them. As I started in chapter 1 it became obvious that this was going to take a while since almost every verse had something to mark in them. I found words like offering, sacrifice, without blemish, voluntary, hand upon the head, atonement, blood, altar, wood, fire, and wash, all in the first chapter! The same would be true of the chapters to follow.
It is amazing how every ritual had something to do with Christ and the Atonement. So I began a list of the words and how they relate to Christ and the Atonement in my scripture journal.
Offering - Christ was offered up to atone for our sins
Sacrifice - Christ sacrificed His life for us
Without blemish - Christ is perfect
Voluntary - Christ voluntarily gave His life for us
Make atonement for the sinner - The purpose of the Atonement
Blood - The Savior's blood
Body - The Savior's body
Bread - Christ is the bread
Altar - Golgotha
Wood - the cross
Fire - Holy Ghost
Washed in water - Christ the living water
Oil - Savior's healing power
Frankincense - gift from the Wise Men also represents prayers of the righteous
Anointing - Christ is the Anointed One
This is just part of the list, but it is enough to make the point that Christ and the Atonement are definitely in the Book of Leviticus. As I finished up my list I could see that the Lord was trying to teach the Israelites through the laws and rituals how sin devastates humanity's relationship with God and the importance of repentance and renewal. This is still a good message for us today.
Christians are no longer required to make animal sacrifices. After the Savior's ultimate sacrifice the 'ordinance of the sacrifice' became the 'ordinance of the sacrament', in which the Lord asks us to take the sacrament each week in remembrance of the sacrifice that Christ made and to renew our covenants. Another change to the law of sacrifice is it moved the focus of the sacrifice from a person’s animal to the person himself. He asks us to sacrifice all the ungodly things in our life, anything that pulls us away from Him, including our attitudes.
Why is it important that we understand the law of sacrifice? Elder M. Russell Ballard says it beautifully:
"...we must know what we do is pleasing before God and understand that this knowledge comes to us through sacrifice and obedience. Those who come unto Christ in this way receive a confidence that whispers peace to their souls and that will eventually enable them to lay hold upon eternal life."
Peace and eternal life what great blessings! So my challenge is to evaluate my life and to find the things that draw me away from God and be willing to sacrifice them, in obedience, to show God that I am willing to put Him first. I think I might go back to my journal and next to my list of words about Christ and the Atonement write down a few things that I need to work on getting rid of, it might not seem so hard to do with words of hope and blessings next to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment