The grain offering of Leviticus teaches us how to respond to the love and forgiveness of God. It pictures an ancient act of devotion that shows how God delights in sincere expressions of love, no matter how simple.
Desperate for acceptance, I went to wild lengths in university to fit in. Years later, Leviticus, a book many avoid, transformed how I viewed acceptance. The background of a sacrifice called a sin offering reveals a deeper, lasting acceptance from God that goes beyond masks and striving.
Everybody knows the command to honour your father and your mother, and Jesus called us to love our enemies. But what if our enemy is also our abuser? What if the parent we’re called to honour is mistreating or exploiting us? Some say the Christian response is to turn the other cheek. Others follow the recent explosion in articles advocating that you cut off all the toxic people in your life. The biblical tension is somewhere in between.
Maybe starting a Zoom group in the first century wasn’t an option technologically, but there’s value in considering what would have been lost if Jesus had chosen to mentor His disciples online instead of in-person.
The King James Version is a good translation that's stood the test of time. But how should we understand the many modern translations that have been released in recent years? Are they more reliable or have they corrupted the Word of God?