Daily Devotionals

From the moment that the Jews were escorted out of Egypt, leaven has always been depicted as something negative. “Beware of the leaven of the pharisees,” Jesus says in Matthew 16:6. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:6.  What’s with all the hate towards leaven? The most obvious answer […]

Leviticus is difficult for most people (raising my own hand, here). It’s confusing, violent, and, at least in terms of practical application to us, somewhat outdated. We don’t need to know the specific procedures for the sacrifices for worship today, so it’s easy to overlook in our reading. It’s also somewhat out of order. Just

I would’ve made for a terrible priest. Not because I couldn’t handle the minutiae of daily tasks (I’m very checklist oriented) or because I couldn’t be around the blood and dead animals. No, I’d make a terrible priest because I am absolutely terrible at keeping any kind of fire lit. Just ask anyone that has

God has spent a lot of time in Leviticus talking about the nature of unintentional sins. What do you do when you find out you were in error, or when the entire nation finds out they’re wrong? You make it right, and, if necessary, you make restitution. Leviticus 6 carries that same idea further, but

By this point in Leviticus, there’s a good chance your eyes have glazed over and you’re just skimming the portions about sacrifices and sins with the meekest of attention spans. Or maybe that’s just me. But if you’re able to stay with it and look deeper into these verses, you may have noticed a slight

I’ve watched enough cop shows to know that when someone goes on trial before the judge, the first thing they do is put their hands on the Bible and swear to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” I have no idea if that’s actually how it plays out in the

Part of the beauty of the Old Law is that it notices everyone. When a crime is committed—intentional or not—there is a sliding scale of sacrifices that one can offer based on their position in society and/or their economic status. Nowhere in Leviticus is this more clearly seen than in Leviticus 4. Beginning at the

Look, I get it. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I mess up. I don’t always say/do/think how I should. But I pray that at least when I notice it—my error, I mean—I fess up and make it right. That’s what Leviticus 4 is about: unintentional sins. That being said, how does an entire congregation

It takes a certain amount of self-awareness to be a Christian. We need to know what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and whether or not any of it lines up with what God wants. Paul himself struggled with this in 1 Corinthians 9:27 by saying that he “disciplines his body daily” to bring it

As if we needed any more proof that the Old Law regulated religious life down to the most minute detail, we have Leviticus 3. In describing the various portions for the peace offerings, the Text gives us three different options. First, you can give from the “herd”; if that’s what you decide, then Leviticus 3:1-5