Hope Discovery for the Day:
There is no shame for the child of God for Christ’s forgiveness removed our sin and its consequence.
Scripture of the Day:
Leviticus 16:20-22
“When he has finished purifying the holy place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat. 21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he is to put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man standing ready. 22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, so he is to send the goat away in the wilderness.”
Ever wondered where the phrase “scapegoat” comes from? The poor goat in the passage above did not know what was coming to Him. He bore the sins of all the people, but he did not have to die. Pretty sure he did not feel shame, either, as he wandered into the wilderness.
What is intriguing in the passage above is what precedes it. Another goat was sacrificed as a sin offering. and bore all the sins of the people. But this second goat – he lived. These two goats were a foreshadowing of the work of Christ in our salvation. The first goat represented Christ, Who died for our sin. The second goat represented our risen Savior, who lives to bear our sins.
Thank God we live in the time after Christ accomplished His work on our behalf. We are living under grace. But we dare not take that truth for granted. Our risen Savior paid all our sin debt so we could live victoriously and live blame free. More than that, our Savior took away our shame, too. All our past mistakes have no hold on us and we are no longer condemned. Blame says, “You did something bad”. Shame says, “you are bad”. Shame cuts to the core of our character and tries to define us according to our error.
Despite Christ bearing all of our sins, the scapegoat is still ever popular today, we probably just don’t readily see it. Blame is cast without thought while we try to justify our own behavior. Somehow we can pile it back on ourselves and on one another. It might begin as blame – we think someone else is guilty, so we ascribe motives and presume. Blame not handled correctly can swiftly turn into shame if we do not detect it’s lie. There is no longer any shame for the child of God for Christ’s forgiveness removed our sin and its consequence. Hallelujah!
I can hear you say, but what about when people do something wrong? Don’t get me wrong, we do bear the blame for our mistakes. But it doesn’t have to end there. Christ forgave us and took our blame. So when we are guilty of sin, we bring that blame to our living Savior and He bears our iniquity for us. As Paul said, this does not mean we continue in sin because the bill has already been paid. Rather, considering the high cost, we bring our blame gratefully to our loving Savior and remember what He did for us.
Even though Christ took all our shame, we are still accountable for how we live. And when others try to place blame upon us, we have a choice what to do with it, too. God did not die so we would still live in our shame. He bore all our blame and shame and set us free.
Lord, thank You for taking away not just our sin, but the guilty conscience that comes with that sin. Help us to continue the freedom You have given to us.
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