I knew this Fall would bring a sort of frantic grasping at things that might prepare my heart for a 5 month stay in Israel. Despite the fact that I’m an introvert by nature, I find it difficult to slow down and simply…be.
Until I reached high school I was convinced that I was destined for a career as a professional baseball prayer. Eventually I realized that talent is a very important (and in my case lacking) component in making a career out of any sport. By my sophomore year I had decided to be a writer and that decision, coupled with my embrace of Jesus Christ during my junior year, has led me into the present–mostly still dreaming about what I hope to be when I grow up.
Dreaming is the sacred musing of the soul, but when our dreaming is fueled by a felt-need to somehow justify ourselves through what we are able to accomplish, we have placed the burden of reconciliation (which Christ, Himself bore) on our shoulders while creating idols out of our achievements. And so sometimes it does us well to do our best Josiah impressions and tear down a few altars.
I’ve decided to take only one seminary class this quarter (partly because, knowing my professor well, I had a sense of what was in store for me!). This particular class carries students through the first eight books of the Bible, and since my professor wrote the book on the Pentateuch (literally), I wanted to make space in my life to stay engaged and keep up with the frantic pace of the class.
A few weeks ago one of our many assignments was to read an article entitled The 30-Day Leviticus Challenge. Dr. Vogt (my professor) challenged each one of us to read through the entire book of Leviticus (in one sitting), then read the above article and pray about which Levitical laws we might adopt for 30 days. As I’ve thought and prayed about how I might participate in this challenge, I feel led to do two things:
First, I’m going to build a makeshift altar in my bedroom (I know what you’re thinking, but please, hear me out on this one). One of the long-standing struggles in my relationship with God is receiving forgiveness. As I read through the book of Leviticus (admittedly, I’d never done this before), I found myself blown away by both how seriously God treats (even unintentional) sin, as well as how total and final God’s pronouncement of forgiveness is following the prescribed sacrifices are offered. God doesn’t change His mind about His promise to forgive (through the ordained means, of course).
On the other side of the cross, humans are no longer required to offer sacrifices as the ancient Israelites were, but rather we look to Jesus as the complete fulfillment of the sacrificial system and the eternally perfect and pleasing sacrifice for the penalty of our sin…but as I said, I struggle so often to trust that this is true for myself. I’m the exception. God’s grace is strong enough to cleanse everyone else’s heart, but I’m different. As a means of providing a sort of sacred space for God to prove me wrong, I’m going to spend time each day remembering my many sins and jotting them down on a small notebook.
Second, I’m committing to taking a Sabbath day each of the next four weeks. Since my schedule doesn’t allow for me to have a consistent Sabbath day, I’ll be Sabbathing (I realize I just created a new and rather ironic verb) on the following days:
November 6th, November 9th (my birthday!), November 16th and November 27th.
I’ll not be working on these days, but perhaps more importantly, I’ll spend a chunk of time going over my sins, lay them on the floor next to my altar, lay my hand on the sin-covered sheets of paper, confess them anew, and burn them (please do not inform the fire department). I feel the need for a visual proclamation of the reality that God promises is true (even for me) because of what Christ has done.
So I ask for your prayers during this set apart time. Pray that God would draw me to Himself. Pray that I would truly grasp the height, depth and brevity of God’s forgiveness. And pray that God would, in these ways, prepare me for the work ahead.
P.S. If you get the chance to read the article and feel led to participate in the 30-day challenge in your own way, please post a comment and tell me about it!
