SACRIFICES
Today's reading: Leviticus 1-4

I'll be honest with you, the idea of the types of sacrificial worship the Bible tells us about in the book of Leviticus is hard to wrap one's brain around.

Reading it all leaves me with more questions than answers. Questions like...

How did they remember all the rules? I mean which animal for which kind of sacrifice. Which type of sacrifice for which sin. Which time of day. Which end of the altar. Lots to remember.

How did they handle the chaos of dealing with the livestock? One must remember I myself live on a small farm where the animals more or less do what they wish, not necessarily what we wish them to do. I cannot for the life of me imagine herding our 'flock' to church for the weekly sacrifice and ending up on time, in one piece or looking very Christ-like in my appearance by the time I got there.

What about the smells? Any visitor to our small piece of heaven down a country road knows 'it don't smell like the city'. It's not a smell that you would always choose to have in candle form or as a spray room freshener. Death also stinks. The iron-y smell of the blood. The burning of the flesh. I am sure it was an assault to the senses.

Here is what I'm left with after reading about the sacrifices--Jesus made it easy for us!

His death on the cross did away with us having to remember which sacrifice for which sin.

His taking on our punishment for our sins dealt single-handedly with the chaos of death and hell and our enemy.

His choice to love us this much amazes me. His love overwhelms. His sacrifice, if we choose to think with our hearts about it, goes beyond anything we can imagine anyone doing for us.

He made it easy for us to get rid of the guilt that sin stains us with.

Oh, what a Savior!