A Lesson from Leviticus

Leviticus is a tough read for many Christians. Clocking in at 27 chapters, Leviticus gives extremely detailed instructions covering almost every aspect of day-to-day life among the ancient Hebrews.

An obvious question for modern Christians: How much of Leviticus is relevant to my life? After all, didn't Jesus (and also Paul) render much of the highly-detailed ritualistic parts of Leviticus, especially the stuff on diet and sacrifices, moot?

However, I do think that Leviticus, taken as a whole, issues an important message, and for that message alone, the book is worth reading in its entirety. That message is: God takes sin very seriously, and he was us to acknowledge the seriousness of our sins. For example, Leviticus 4 outlines, in stunning detail, the animal sacrifice that is required in the event of an "unintentional" sin.

The point is not that we should sacrifice animals to atone for our sins. But we must sacrifice something. What should we sacrifice? The answer appears in Hebrews 13:15 (ESV),

Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

That's it! He wants us to praise him, which really shouldn't feel like a sacrifice at all! But we must approach that praise with the same meticulousness put forth in Leviticus.