NIV 365 / Don't-Mean-It Sins

The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Plan

Day 291 of 365 Don't-Mean-It Sins Everyone roared with laughter at Maggie's story about Brad's klutziness in fixing the car. Brad was mortified. Thad had been paying bills online and then, without ever really planning to, he found himself deep in pornography. Melanie walked in and found him viewing images he had no business seeing. Arthur and Gabriela thought they were just getting together with some friends from church, but then they found themselves caught up in an angry coup to get rid of the pastor. Six months later, the church was in shambles, and Arthur and Gabriela were wondering how they let themselves get involved in the mess. Sometimes we sin without meaning to. We aim for righteousness, honor and wisdom, but we miss by a mile. Leviticus 4:2 introduces a Hebrew word for sin that means "to miss the mark." George R. Knight, professor of church history at Andrews University Theological Seminary (Berrien Springs, Michigan), explains, "You have missed, not because you are wicked, but because you are stupid, silly, careless, inattentive, perhaps lazy, or more probably because you do not possess the proper aim in life." Add to that Hebrew word for sin the word "unintentionally," and it suggests someone wandering away like a silly sheep or someone who isn't thinking. We sometimes feel we ought to be given a break if we didn't really mean to sin. But the Bible doesn't cut us any slack. Whether we mean it or not, sin damages our relationship with God and with others. Anyone who is married knows that unintentional hurts, such as teasing about someone's weaknesses or being chronically late or missing a birthday, can do a lot of harm. Leviticus 4 shows that God takes unintentional sins seriously. Forgiveness is available, but it doesn't come cheap. No quick, "Oops, sorry. Guess I wasn't thinking." Specific instructions were given in Leviticus 4 for how different groups were to deal with these kinds of sins. While the details differed a little from one group to another, the basic corrective steps were the same for each situation: bring an offering, then have it sacrificed to atone for the sin. Today, we who confess Jesus Christ as Savior are grateful that we don't have to go through the laborious and gruesome atonement rituals of the Old Testament. Still, as we read through the requirements in Leviticus, we realize how the sacrificial system illustrates the seriousness of sin. These sin sacrifices did not overdramatize the sinner's situation; rather, they underdramatized it. The blood of animals could never pay for sin, whether unintentional or not. God mercifully accepted such sacrifices until his plan could be carried out to give his one and only Son, Jesus, as the complete sacrifice for sin. Sin is terrible-even when it's unintentional. Praise God that Christ's death provides forgiveness for us and that his indwelling Spirit gives us the strength to aim straight at godliness. -Lee Eclov Taken from NIV Couples' Devotional Bible Leviticus 4:27-35 Leviticus 4:27-35 KJV 27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; 28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned. 29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. 31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the Lord ; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. 32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish. 33 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar: 35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord : and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.