It snowed only a little this past Friday. In fact, when we awoke Saturday morning, there was only a narrow drift of snow about half-way down the driveway, and the rest was bare. There was far too little snow to warrant getting out the snow blower…
Unfortunately, that narrow drift was high, and when my husband tried to back out of the garage, he got stuck.
When it comes to an individual’s view of their own sin, I find there are two classes of people in this world: there are those who are keenly aware of their sin, are upset by it and even depressed, some to the point of suicide; and those who don’t think about their sin, or if they do, they are quick to say, “I’m a good person, I’m not as bad as____,” and the blank is filled in with the name of someone who has committed some heinous crime.
There is only one problem with both of these seemingly-opposite views. Sin is like the snow on our driveway. It didn’t matter that most of the driveway was clear, that one drift was enough to keep my husband from being able to get to his appointment. In much the same way, it doesn’t matter how much sin a person has in their lives. Any at all acts as that narrow (but deep!) snow drift, it serves to separate us from God: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isa 59:2, NKJV)
The book of Exodus gives an interesting command to Israel: “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD…This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs)…The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel…” (Exod 30:12-15, NKJV).
Why did God give such a command? Wouldn’t half a shekel be much more than the poor would be able to pay, while it would be an easy thing for the rich? Why wouldn’t God, like for other types of offerings, allow them to give according to their means?
The answer to this question lies in what the offering was for: “…Every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD…The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.” (Exod 30:12-15, NKJV)
The purpose of this offering was one of atonement for sin, and the fact that everyone had to give the same amount teaches us two very important lessons:
1) We’ve all sinned: “There is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom 3:23); and
2) God doesn’t gradate sin. One person’s sin is no worse than another’s, it all requires atonement. This means that no matter how innocent or how heinous, the sins we have done have caused us to get stuck in the snow drift — to “…fall short of the glory of God…!”
So for both classes of people, those who dwell on their sin until they become depressed, and those who never think about their sin or feel that they aren’t as “bad” as others, there is an important lesson to be learned: Our sin, no matter how big or small, separates us from God. But just as there was the need of only one sacrifice in the wilderness, one half a shekel, to atone for sin, there is the need of only one sacrifice for us today. Fortunately for us, that sacrifice has already been paid: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:10, NKJV)
Praise God!
Oh, and God sent our neighbor with his tractor to clear the snow off the driveway…
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.