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R.I.G.H.T.


God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)
 

          Saturday afternoon, I went to a painting class at my church. Our subject was a pair of dandelions that had gone to seed, one of them with part of the seeds blown into the wind around the line “Be still and know that I am God.” This is my fourth time taking one of these classes. I learn a little about technique each time, but I can tell you with absolute assurance that I am not an artist. I enjoy the activity but it’s also frustrating because it didn’t turn out R.I.G.H.T. 
          What’s right? I’m not sure, but probably what they are calling “hyper-realism.” If not that, then at least that is not only more than I accomplished, but more than I am able to accomplish. You’ve probably been there. You want to get it right and no matter how hard you try, it’s just not good enough. That’s what we’ve been examining for the past several days. We just can’t be good enough. Even in the Old Testament, God acknowledged this. He set up a sacrificial system. While we deserved to die for what we did, God would accept the death of a substitute instead. 
          The rules about this were strict. He demanded “hyper-reality.” Since the life is in the blood, it had to be an animal. It had to be innocent of the sin for which it was being sacrificed, which might explain why carnivores weren’t sacrificed. It had to be perfect, and the truth of the matter was that it didn’t change much. Until we tried, we couldn’t know that we would fail. Now that we have failed, God as provided what we could not. He provided a perfect, innocent sacrifice that met His standards. We may not understand it all, but because we've tried, we have a better idea of what it takes, and can better appreciate the One who did what we could not.

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