The Lord puts us in a very special place in His mind and heart. Do we do the same with Him?
In the same way that a disfigured priest was not to serve in the holy place, so any sacrifice offered to the Lord, “must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it” (Lev 22:21). Why? First, because God must be taken very seriously, and what we offer Him is an expression of that. As He says at the conclusion of the chapter, “You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God” (vv 32-33). Do you see the mirror-image truths? God’s people are to hallow the Lord, that is, set Him apart from everything else, both in their hearts and actions. At the same time, it is God who has sanctified (or set apart) His people. He is “all in” for us, totally committed to seeking our good. Just as He delivered Israel out of Egypt, so it can be said of us today, “God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:17-18). Many people do not understand this principle: the only freedom we have is the freedom to choose our master. Listen! “We will not have this Man to reign over us” (Lk 19:14). Or “sin shall not have dominion over you” (Rom 6:14). Those are the two choices—to be slaves to sin or servants of Christ. When Paul speaks of “that form of doctrine [teaching] to which you were delivered,” he is referring to the Bible’s Good News that any sinner can be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24). Believing I am the one for whom Christ died, I accept Him as my sin-bearer; through faith, I am set free to a life entwined in love to the Lord.