Happy 2016 Snowzilla! (Yes that is the official name they are calling the snowstorm this year)
If you’re like me (and I know 99.9% of you are because I’ve seen your pictures) you woke up and saw all the beautiful snow and thought, “I need to take a picture of this and post it on Facebook/Instagram!” After scrolling through dozens of snow pictures I couldn’t help but laugh. Why do we all post pictures of the snow? The pictures are all the same: snow, sledding, snowman, more snow. Why do we feel the need to tell people it’s snowing? We can all clearly see it out of our windows. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing your snow pictures; please keep them coming! There’s something so beautiful about everything being one color. White: something so pure and clean but easily stainable.
I’ve been reading through Leviticus the past couple of days, and I’ve read it before, but this is the first time I’ve really read it and actually enjoyed it! Leviticus is hard for me to read. It’s not just the laws and regulations that make it hard to read; it’s the intricate detail of the laws that make it so hard to comprehend. Praise the Lord that I was not born during that time because there’s no way I would be able to follow all of that and not completely mess it up! The way they had to sacrifice an animal? Nope, no way. I don’t even eat animal. There’s no way I could follow in detail how they were supposed to do that, let alone all the other details they had to follow. There’s no way you could follow them either. The Israelites couldn’t even follow them exactly. Why? Because we are sinners!
Another theme that is in Leviticus is how much the Lord reminds us that He is Yahweh. Over and over He says “I Am Yahweh your God.” We need that reminded over and over. He knows that we would turn away and forget if we weren’t constantly reminded. We still turn away even when we are constantly reminded. Why? Because we are sinners! In your past? You’ve sinned. Present? You still sin. Future? Probably gonna sin there too. (Wow Theresa Ann you’re being kind of harsh. I’m just trying to enjoy my snow day… Please bear with me. I have a point to all of this.)
We are stained with sin. I am completely stained. Like, more stained than all of my white shirts with coffee spills all over them. Yea, more than that, my life has been messy. We have one thing that the Isrialites did not have at the time though. (No, it’s not OxiClean or Tide To Go) Jesus! The beautiful hope of Jesus! Who does what??? Washes us white, WHITER than snow! (Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 51:7) I know if you’ve grown up in church you’ve probably heard that verse over and over, and you probably thought of it when you saw the snow today, but PLEASE let that sink in to reality. HE PAID IT ALL. Took my filthy, unclean, unworthy, unwashable, coffee stained, no good life and washed it WHITER THAN SNOW. Jesus paid it all at the cross so that I do not have to live with my sin. So that I could have a new life and hope for my future. So that even when I mess up, which happens every day, I would still be seen as righteous in His eyes. I am unstainable now with Jesus. I may sin but my sin does not stay with me.
The amazing thing is that He willingly did it. He knew we couldn’t follow rules and regulations perfectly without ever messing up. He wanted a relationship with you so He came and died for you. Let that sink in today. Whether you’ve heard it all your life growing up in church or this is your first time hearing the Gospel. Dwell on that hope and promise of salvation. When you look out the window today and see all the amazing white snow, know that that’s you with Jesus. Beautiful, clean, pure, and worthy of posting all over social media for the world to see.
