The Hokey Poky

"If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, or the sin which he committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering." Leviticus 4:27-29

Before Jesus came, they people could not have a direct relationship with God because of their sin. God absolutely can not be around sin. So, in order to have a limited relationship with God, sacrifices for their sin. And the sacrifice covered them until the next time they sinned, which could be just a few minutes later! It was such a lengthy list of procedures. Some people would even call it a bunch of hokey poky.

God's solution:

"And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." John 14:26

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." John 15:26

We know that Jesus took our place, and He became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. And after He died and rose again, He went back to Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit in His place. Among the common man! Now we can have the Holy Spirit inside us today!

Do you see how blessed we are? We live in a day where we don't need to make sacrifices for every individual sin, we just need to repent. We can have the Holy Spirit in our lives, guiding us, helping us, teaching us. We have it so easy compared to the Israelites!

We can look at all the rules we live by as life sucking, but truthfully, we are blessed. We can look at our relationship with God as boring, but guys, we are blessed to be able to have a relationship so close to God! Don't blow this off! You can look at the "Christian" stuff like it's some hokey poky, but we are so blessed! Use this blessing! Repent, and get to know God! Don't waste the gift.

---Joy