Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 32: Unintentional Sin

Good morning, everyone!

Today I'm reading Leviticus 1-4. Now, just a quick disclaimer: Leviticus is the book of laws, and I can't promise to always have something to say about them.


But today I do.

I don't understand most of this.

No. Really. As a New Testament Christian, I don't understand the rules and laws for offerings of sacrificial animals. It doesn't completely make sense to me.

Now, that said, God's laws are very detailed. It's amazing.

And reading through these, He even has laws for the disposal of the ashes and the parts of the animal that weren't to be burned (if that was the case).

And something we'll learn later in Leviticus is that God does not make laws without a purpose. He even has laws that they needed for sanitation and health that we don't need today because of the way medicine has changed. But we'll get into that later.

One thing I did find interesting in chapter 4 was that God included laws for unintentional sins. And if I read it correctly, it basically said that once someone pointed it out to the person, they, or the priests, were to sacrifice the sin offering to God.

But first, someone had to point it out to them.

And isn't that an interesting thought?

We may not always know when we sin. We may have done something all of our lives, and then someone, lovingly and with compassion, points out that God has named it a sin, and we have to stop and repent.

But there's a sacrifice for that. In our case, Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we don't have to. All we have to do is repent, ask forgiveness sincerely, and stop committing the sin.

Now...let me be clear about this. Nowadays, God has sent His Spirit to dwell among all people, so that we may learn His laws and keep His commandments. So, we are not excused from a sin just because we didn't know it was a sin. Which is why He will send someone to point it out, or He will do it Himself through His Spirit, and then we have to repent and stop doing it.

There is no excuse for sin. Just because we didn't know doesn't excuse us. Once we do know, we must repent. And we know. We know when we do something wrong. That little voice inside of us, our conscience, tells us when we do something wrong. Sometimes we ignore it - sometimes on purpose, sometimes out of ignorance - but it's still there, trying to get us to do the right thing.

Romans 3:23 - ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

Now, there's a lot more to that verse, and I encourage you to read the whole chapter, but the rest of the chapter does not change the meaning. This verse can stand alone.

Everyone has sinned. Even me. Even you. Everyone. Intentionally or unintentionally. Big or small. And while there was a distinction in the Old Testament, for the sake of a different kind of offering, all sin is the same to God.

So, I know I repeated myself a few times, but this is important. Just because we don't know it's a sin, doesn't change the fact that it's a sin. And it doesn't excuse us from repentance once we learn it's a sin.

And really, we know. Even if we don't know, we know. In our spirits. We get that little twinge of guilt, like we've gotten away with something we shouldn't have.

Or that's how it's worked for me in the past.

Let me give you an example from my life:

There's a person I know who is extremely annoying. I don't think it's intentional; it's part of their personality, and it may have something to do with mental health issues as well.

Either way, this person is annoying. And when other people would talk about this person in a negative way, I didn't see anything wrong with it, because everything they were saying was true. Sometimes I would even join in.

"Well, this person did this or that." "And then did you see?"

And so it went on and on.

And I kept getting this twinge in my spirit, but I ignored it, because I felt as long as I was speaking what was true, it was okay.

And then I guess God got really annoyed about it, because I got what I call a God-slap upside my spirit. Ever have one of those? It hurts. I don't recommend it.

And God pointed out this verse to me:

Ephesians 4:29-31 - Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Uh oh.

Unwholesome words.

Slander.

Bitterness.

Malice.

I was in so much trouble.

Slander. Wasn't that what I was doing? I was slandering someone. And sometimes it may have been true, but sometimes I wasn't sure it was true. I had only what other people said to go on, after all.

And wasn't that gossip?

Double uh oh.

Gossip is bad.

Proverbs 20:19 says not to associate with a gossip.

Triple uh oh.

I had sinned unintentionally. I had grieved God by my sin. Was I still responsible for the sin even though I hadn't meant to sin? Yes. 

Why?

Because I knew it was wrong. Even though I didn't have the Bible verses to prove it, I still knew in my spirit that it was wrong. And so I had to repent. And ask forgiveness. I also had to ask God for help, because sometimes I am still tempted to talk about this person. It's even harder when other people do it.

So, I'm still trying to see this person through God's eyes instead of my own. It's hard, but it's a start.

Do you have any unintentional sin in your life? Something that has been making your spirit twinge? Something you've been ignoring?

I encourage you to ask God to reveal any unintentional sins in your life, to repent, and to ask God to help you in those areas.

Well, that's all for today friends. I guess I did learn something after all.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read Leviticus 5-7.