About CFC
Work in progress…
By Mark Smith
23rd February 2012 | Category: Join the Journey 2012
Key Verse
Leviticus 14 v 40 (NIV)
“If the mildew has spread, he [the priest] is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out…”
Central truth
We need to be cleansed
Main Content
What’s mildew got to do with it?
I think most people shudder a little when they reach Leviticus with its rules and regulations that God commanded the Israelites to perform - sin offerings and atoning sacrifices of bulls and lambs. So congratulations for making it to Chapter 14.
For me, three thousand five hundred years on, I find it hard to see the relevance of these ancient Jewish sacrifices; especially when God has established His New Covenant with humanity by the atoning sacrificial death of His Son on the Cross; for which I am eternally grateful. (Plus the fact new carpet has gone down in the church and the average market price of a lamb is £100 and over £1000 for a bull.)
Chapter 14 is about being unclean due to infectious skin diseases and houses that have become contaminated due to mildew on the walls. If it’s mildew, we read that one part of the cleansing process involves tearing out the mildewed stones.
As a relatively young Christian, I’ve shied away from Leviticus. But in preparing to write this I read something that really helped - Leviticus is about holiness, personal holiness before God.
A continuous process
When I accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour, Jesus took away my sin, the barrier that stopped me from entering into a relationship with His Father, and I was born again as a child of God and a new man. For me, that particular evening one March, not much happened that I can put my finger on, except a few days later I realised that I had stopped swearing. Why God zapped me in that particular area of my life and not in more significant ones at the beginning of my walk with Him, I don’t know, but He did.
That was pretty immediate. But as a work in progress, I still need to seek God giving Him permission to ‘search me and know my heart…’ to ‘test me and know my anxious thoughts...’ (like it says in Psalm 139) so I can be made aware of anything that’s ‘offensive’ and needs dealt with, changing or taking out.
It is a continuing process of cleansing and renewal by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. I am a work in progress so it’s an ongoing process that has seen some pretty big stones knowingly torn out by me that either hindered my relationship with God or affected my witness - while others have been quietly chipped away.
Either way, He’s with us every step of the way. Isn’t that good news?
Consider:
Are there stones in your life that need to be removed?
Mark Smith
By his own admission, Mark has lived an unexpected life. Originally from a sleepy Sussex village, he came to live in Belfast shortly after his 18th birthday and has made his home here. Married to Debbie and blessed again with a wonderful little girl who will be one next month, he became a Christian on the last night of an Alpha Course in March 2004. A volunteer youth worker with care experienced young people; he also serves in Kidzclub, Alpha and in prayer ministry. Professionally, he is the Press and Marketing Officer for the Ulster Orchestra.
