The reports of the scouts were tailored by 10 of the 12 men to instill fear of the land and doubt of God’s power into the hearts of the Israelites. Only Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people to enter the promised land to take hold of the promise that God had given. In the end the fear and disbelief of the people overcame the people and they wished they had died in the wilderness or were back in Egypt instead of having to fight their way into the promised land. God became angered with the people and He said that anyone who was counted in the census 20 years or older would not enter the promised land. He would grant their wish to die in the wilderness just as they had grumbled. God removed His blessing to enter the promised land from everyone except Joshua and Caleb who were faithful to God.

This story has direct impact on our lives. Are you living a life of blessing right now in a promised land or are you in a wilderness? Is sin ruling your life? God wants to direct you into a life of freedom and blessing but when we look at our life we sometimes like the bondage to sin in Egypt was more alluring and easy or we see how difficult the promised land seems to conquer and we wish for death. The Israelites lacked faith to trust that God was able to make a way where there seemed to be no way. They grumbled and complained and sought to solve their problems themselves. There is power that is given to believers today because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. Will you take hold of that promise and start the journey to enter your “promised life”? It means leaving behind sin and lust. It means learning to trust in Jesus Christ when the way seems impossible. It mean seeking to bring God glory in every aspect of your life. I pray that you can life your life under the blessing that God has given you. Start today by seeking out a daily relationship with Jesus Christ. Take time to read about the Truth in the Bible. When we know who Jesus Christ is we can have freedom.

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister had left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” but the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

My viewing life in all of it’s stress and worry is my Martha. I am consumed with not having a job and what will happen if I do not have a job. How long can I support myself? Will I find a job in this economy? I live in fear of what may happen to my health. Will I stay healthy? Will my body recover from all the trauma?  Will I get sick again? I am a single guy living in a world that depicts sexual needs as the greatest and utmost thing you can obtain. Will I ever get married? Why do girls have to dress so seductively? How does one overcome the sexual temptations that encompass society? Why Lord? Why, why, why? This is my Martha, I am so consumed by the circumstances of life I have lost focus of what truly matters. Is my worth and value found in my money, health, job, friendship, or love?

Now enters the moment where God shows me a different way to live. For Martha this is where she questions the perceived laziness of her sister Mary. Jesus says to her that she is too worried and bothered about non-important things and she is not focusing on what is necessary. This transformation in my life was brought about in the midst of the worries I held so important. As I healed from all of my illness I was forced to slow down my life and in that slowness I was able to hear God. In those quiet moments I was able to as my why questions in life and God answered me. I had a lot of time to look upon my life think about all of choices whether good and bad that I have made through out my life. In light of God’s truth contained in the Bible I was able to look back at my life and by the Grace of God a mighty transformation occured. Not having a job became a blessing that I had not anticipated because I was drawn to study the Bible with a voracity I have never seen before in my life. This abundance of time time feasting in the Bible and getting to know Jesus Christ has filled me to over flowing spiritually. The biblical truth that I have  seen in scripture time and time again but never applied to my life are now impacting me in a renewed way.

Freedom from the bondage to depression, sadness, and anxiety and my transformation to my Mary came hand in hand. If I would have kept my life view like Martha where I was too concerned about everything going on in life whether good or bad there would be no freedom or renewal. My Mary was formed in the development of a daily time of study in the Bible where I sought God daily and I desired to learn about Truth more than anything. I have been living in this state of Mary where I am now so consumed with Jesus that nothing else matters. I have been transformed into a man who now seeks God above all things. I desire to know Him and the power of His resurrection. I find that my life is being renewed physically, spiritually, and emotionally from this life changing encounter with God allowing me to go through life with renewed passion as I seek out what God has for me.

What does this story about my life change from a person who worries about all things around me, my Martha, to one who is fixated on Jesus, my Mary, have to do with you? I am convinced that the only true way that we can find freedom in life is to know Jesus Christ. This post is for the people who are in bondage. I do not care what type of bondage that you find yourself in whether it is to depression, stress, sickness, pornography, drugs, alcohol, or sex. I stand here today and I want to point you to Jesus Christ as your only way out of the chains that hold you. I can tell you that the process to freedom is not an easy road but if you genuinely seek God you can find freedom.

I exhort you to seek God!

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

Chapter 27 sets out the rule for which bondservants, animals, houses, and land were to be valued when sold. When something needed to be valued that was not listed specifically the item was shown to the priest and he would value it. When the priest valued an item was it recorded?

Chapter 27 sure seems to not apply to my life at this moment in time but as I think about it it does apply. It is so funny how eager I can be to say that a piece of scripture in the Old Testament can’t apply to my life today so just move along to something fun and more exciting. In this chapter God is setting a standard for fair practices when selling and trading items. These values were important because a person could restore a sold item by paying back the amount plus and extra fifth to the person currently in possession. A bond servant could by back their freedom and know the exact price needed. In my daily life I interact with people at stores and sometimes I may see an incorrectly priced item. It may be tempting to take advantage of the price but I know that God will be honored if I acknowledge the error and desire to pay the correct amount. Do I desire to live my life as honoring to God? Do you? In every action I make in life there are moments where I can give glory to God. Will I strive to bring that glory and honor to God? Lord I pray you grant me the ability to honor you.

I was inherently an harlot because of the sin that was rotting at my core. I easily chose to prostitute myself out to the desires of my flesh, the world, and I choose my own path. Unlike the people of Leviticus 27 who choose to become bondservants I was born as bondservant to sin and there was no way for me to pay the price of restoration. My valuation was shown by God through the cross. My bonds to sin were cut and my freedom from a life of sin because of Jesus Christ’s death for me on the cross. This is the grace that frees me to live. I am thankful.

In the beginning of Leviticus chapter 19 I was faced instantly with the question why is the command that mothers and fathers to be reverenced listed right in the middle of the relationship law of chapter 18 and the sundry laws given in rest of chapter 19. It initially seemed out of place among all the laws and commands about sacrifices and daily living. I remembered that Paul in Ephesians chapter 6:1-3 states, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” The promise that Paul is referring to is from Exodus 20:12 when God is giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” What appears to be random charge to honor your parents is actually God restating the Ten Commandments in greater detail as is seen in chapters 17 and 18.

Chapter 20 brings the consequences to the laws found in chapter 18. Laws given without consequence do not carry the same threat or dissuasive power. These consequences were not light hand slaps they were death or being cut off from the community. It seem like being cut off is better than death but image what it meant to be cut off from your friends, family, or job without a fallback plan. That is a heavy burden in a society where you rely on the community interaction to survive. It makes the burden of sin weigh even heavier on people. In addition to the consequence God is consistently telling the Israelites to be holy because He is holy and that charge is also given to me. How could the Israelites follow God’s command to be holy because He is holy? How can I? I think that this command is another reminder of how inadequate we all are. It makes me wonder how people lived before Christ died on the cross? There was no cornerstone to belief so there was no assurance in life. Jesus Christ gives assurance to christians today. At first glance I though that it would be too difficult to live with the continual sacrificing for sin and lack of assurance of forgiveness but my perspective of life under grace overshadowed a key aspect of the forgiveness extended. After someone brought their sacrifice to the Lord their sins were forgiven, end of story! An Israelite could walk away with a weight lifted off their shoulders because of God’s forgiveness. There was assurance of forgiveness from God just as we have today. A sacrificial offering had to be made in order to be forgiven but this is a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for all mankind.

When God before time began planned to save humanity from its own failure I did not have any sway in His decision. When God sparked creation my own actions could not prompt His decisions in creation. When Jesus died on the cross for humanities sin there was nothing that I could do to change His mind. When the time for Christ’s return to earth comes there will be nothing I can do to win favor. I have been designed with an inadequacy inherent in my inability to bridge the gap to God. In the garden of Eden man was created to have intimate and personal fellowship with God. When Adam and Eve sinned it was the beginning of a separation from God that we cannot overcome.

The stage of my inadequacy was set long ago before I was ever born but grace existing in the very nature of God was prepared to make a way for me to become more than adequate. There is no qualification placed upon the grace that God extends. Throughout the gospels grace is extended equally to everyone who seeks it no matter who they are or what they have done. Now when I think about the people who ‘seek’ God I find myself staring into a deep mystery which is this: do we choose God or did he choose us. I think when we get caught up in thinking about how we came to faith in Jesus Christ we lose sight of what really matters. God gives us everything with no qualification to change our current life because He meets us where we are. In thinking about grace I have come to see that it is all about God and not about me and because of this understanding I believe that my salvation is all about God and not about me. Why should I feel that I am able to choose to believe that Jesus died on the cross for me if there is no way for me to obtain God’s grace through my own means? Grace is so amazing because it meets us where we are with out us needing to change. The woman caught in adultery, the lame, the tax collectors, the blind, the fishermen all were caught up by a grace right in the midst of their lives.

The truth of grace means that I do not need to get caught up in the bondage that I so often press upon myself when I feel that I have failed. it is not within my ability to live a life as perfectly as Jesus Christ. When I say that I need to stop sinning before God will do something I am walking a slippery slope that will only lead to me never finding what God’s grace is. Whenever I judge my life by what I think my standard for life would be if I were god I have lost sight of the acceptance that has been mine by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. I am accepted by God no matter where I am in my journey through life. I will never find myself in a place where God’s grace will not trump the bondage I find myself in.

How does this grace affect my daily life? I can boldly read or not read my Bible because who I am is not what I do. My prayer life can be vibrant or struggling because no matter what state I find my prayer life that does not define me. I can get up and work my job no matter what it is whether I find joy in it or not because my joy is found not in what I do. The beauty of my meditation on grace had been my deeper understanding of what Paul said in Romans 6: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” How true Paul is! The grace of God is not a license to live a life doing whatever I please. If I were to live a life of sin thinking I am under grace I would be deceiving myself and there would be no freedom or joy in my life. Grace compels me to live my life for God and even if I did stray from God I would be compelled to return to Him just as the prodigal son was compelled to return home. In moments where I have seen my life as the prodigal son did and seeing how I had nothing of worth and I turned to God it is in that moment that grace is known. I am just a lost child quivering under the anticipation of judgement but God extends grace and embraces me passionately as his precious child.

Grace is beautifully summed up in this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”. The reality of grace is that it is all God and not us. What a freedom is found in this truth. May you find peace in knowing the grace of God. Please feel free to contact me with any comments: @toesSHORTten on Twitter or email_me@aaroneberline.com

As any christian would attest to we struggle daily with sin in many different forms whether it is vanity, lust, hate, sex, drugs, alcohol, pride, pornography, apathy the list is endless. I know many times I have looked at sin in my life and thought, “You know God doesn’t want me to look at this or that so I am going to do THIS to fix it!” It is a constant cycle that I have found myself in time and time again. If I only were able to get this straightened out. Why do I keep failing? The problem I face is me. I am trying to do what I think God wants me to do. Now enter grace into the picture! Grace is the antithesis of self, works, and the self imposed law I find myself trying to submit to. What if I let grace? What if? I am trying to grasp this concept! What else is better to cling to than grace?

“Where sin abounded, grace has more abounded; and so, just as sin reigned wherever there was death, so grace will reign to bring eternal life thanks to the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
– Romans 5:20-21

What an amazing truth Paul proclaims! Sin is out there! Come all drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves, murderers, men, women, and children because your sin, yes YOUR sin pales in comparison to the grace that God has for you! You know that sin will lead to your death but this amazing wondrous grace will reign over sin and bring you eternal life. This eternal live is only due to that grace of the cross where Jesus Christ died for your sins. Now get up and live life knowing that you are not tied down to sin. The faithful freedom of grace exists for you. So let grace!

This is an early post in to grace and as I journey in my understanding about what grace is I’ll post more. Watch for grace 1.0 in the near future.

How and why does this apply to me today? I look at the stories of how God did many wonders and I am in awe of HIs power and faithfulness. I also see that I am wholly unable to work my own salvation! The people of Israel had a very tangible and visual reminder of God about them yet they constantly strayed from His commands. I do the same thing but by the Grace of God I can place my trust in the death of Jesus Christ for my hope.

I look forward to continuing the journey through the Bible with Leviticus next to see the story of salvation play out one step at a time.