Cross My Heart Ministry

Moses said to Aaron,
“Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering
and your burnt offering and make atonement
for yourself and the people;
sacrifice the offering that is for the people
and make atonement for them,
as the Lord has commanded.”
Leviticus 9:7

If the category is Books of the Bible, and the clue is Legalism, every student of the Scripture would answer: Leviticus. It is a book of rules and requirements.

The theme of Leviticus is holiness. Sin required sacrifice for atonement and cleansing, in order to be declared holy. And Leviticus provides all the details: definition of sin, circumstances of sin, sacrifice required, type of animal, method of sacrifice, etc.

The journey through Leviticus is a bloody, exhausting, and sometimes tedious one.

But for us to truly appreciate the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus in the New Testament, we must wade through the sacrificial requirements presented in the Old Testament.

At least five types of sacrifices are listed in Leviticus:

• Burnt Offering
• Grain Offering
• Fellowship Offering
• Sin Offering
• Guilt Offering

Sometimes more than one offering was required. The sin or guilt offering would always come first. Before the worshiper could be free to commit to God, the matter of sin had to be resolved. Sins of omission and commission, intentional and unintentional sin … all required a sacrifice. The requirements of the law must be met before righteousness was achieved.

For that same day, perhaps just for that moment, righteousness by sacrifice brought holiness. Freedom from guilt. Cleanliness before God. The burden of sin lifted momentarily, but it did not last. Sin the next day or week or month meant another sacrifice. And another. And another.

The law could not save God’s people. The repeated sacrifices could not keep them holy. All of it was intended to point to their need for a Savior — to stir their hearts with longing for the promised Messiah, who would rescue them forever from the bondage of sin.

How blessed we are to live this side of the Cross! What freedom to be defined not by what we have done, but by what our Savior has done for us. What JOY to know we are declared holy for this day and for every day.

As we approach the celebration of Easter, may we be sobered by the truth we find in Leviticus: something — Someone — had to die to make us holy. And may that reality prompt grateful praise to Jesus … our Passover Lamb, our once-for-all sacrifice, our hope for eternity.

Hallelujah!

It’s not too late to join us as we explore verses about SACRIFICE in this month’s Write The WORD study. CLICK HERE for the Downloads page, where you can find printable bookmarks and S.O.A.P. study pages for to guide you through the March Bible study.

 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

Here in Psalm 139, we witness David making himself completely vulnerable before God. His prayer reflects a heart eager to know God and to be refined by Him.

Do you and I wear masks when we pray? Do we offer up platitudes, posturing before God as we suppress our real thoughts, motivations, and struggles?

Of course, we’re not hiding anything from our omniscient heavenly Father … He knows it all anyway!

Yet we play that game.

Sometimes we avoid God altogether until we “get our act together.” Shame keeps us in hiding — not unlike Adam and Eve hiding out in the Garden! The same enemy wants us deceive us. Satan would have us believe we need to clean ourselves up before coming before our holy God.

But we miss the whole point of the Gospel when we try to fix what is broken on our own. We need Him to do it for us. We cannot orchestrate our salvation and we are equally helpless when it comes to our sanctification.

Are you ready to pray a gutsy prayer? To give up on being “polite” before God? Are you ready to cease the safe, surface-only, stale, boring, cold, rehearsed prayers?

Let’s get gritty! Let’s get real! Let’s decide to be open, honest, and vulnerable as we lay out our proverbial dirty laundry before God. Those sorts of prayers will reflect a heart longing for God to do a mighty work — a heart willing to have God search and test and examine, and then lead us “in the way everlasting.”

O Lord, forgive me for floundering on my own when your help is near. Search me today. Search me now. Show me where I need a course correction. Draw me to Yourself. Refine me. Conform my thoughts to Your thoughts, my ways to Your ways. Make me more like You. I echo David’s prayer from way back then for my life now: Search me, test me, and lead me!

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In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

It is good to make a plan. We’ve all heard the old adage, Failing to plan is planning to fail — and often in life, it proves true.

This girl loves To-Do lists and schedules. I get so excited when it’s time to buy a new planner! Some of us check off the tasks as completed, while others cross off, and some do both! And the super-task-oriented amongst us take delight in adding something already completed to the list, just for the sheer pleasure of checking (or crossing) it off!

The Psalmist prays, “Teach us to number our days…” (Psalm 90:12) and Paul challenges, “…make the most of every opportunity.” (Colossians 4:5). It is good to be faithful stewards of the time we have. Time is valuable and too priceless to squander — and more precious with each passing year.

But even as we exercise diligence in our planning, we receive a caution here in Proverbs: hold those plans loosely. We make our plans, but ultimately God is sovereign over our lives.

God will always have His way. He works through events and circumstances to move us, shape us, and refine us according to His plan. He determines our steps.

I am unable to ascertain where our free will ends and where God’s sovereign will begins … and, frankly, am a little concerned by those who could definitively answer that question (unless there is clear sin involved)!

But here’s the thing: as I make plans in my heart and plot a course to fulfill those plans, I pray that my plans and my will are so yielded to God’s will and so tuned to His best for me that “Laura’s will” completely melts into God’s will.

I pray my love for God means that my will is not straining at the bit to run from His will or exercising super-human strength to reign myself in to yield to His will.

My prayer is that in child-like faith, I love Him and trust Him and that I want what He wants — what He determines for me.

I pray that each new direction becomes an opportunity to lean hard into how He might use this new or unexpected course for His glory … and even my good.

It is simultaneously sobering and encouraging to note that my Savior prayed in the Garden, on the night before His crucifixion, “Not my will but thine be done.” In His humanity, Jesus asked, Is there another way? And I may ask the same: Lord, is there another way? Would you fix this, change this circumstance?

If my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would choose to humble Himself and bend His human will to the divine will of the Father, then who am I — a mere, sinful woman — to think I should or can hold out for my way over His?

Lord, conform my will to Your will. Give me strength to do the work of planning, but to hold my plans loosely and be ready to pivot to a different path as you direct. You know me best and yet still love me most. You are worthy of my complete trust. I have trusted You with my destiny for eternity … how can I not trust you with my now? Be glorified in my life. Amen.

Today’s blog is dedicated to my sweetheart of 36 years! When God redirected our steps and moved us to Arkansas 27 years ago, Proverbs 16:9 was the verse that encouraged me. When I realized it sort of combines our birthdates (mine is on the 16th and Kevin’s on 9th), it made me smile — and still does!

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Cross My Heart Ministry! If making a special treat for your sweeties was on your list this week but you just didn’t get around to it, it’s not too late! Check out last week’s Martha Monday video and watch Laura make these super easy (and yummy) Cake Mix Cookies. With only three ingredients, you can whip these up this afternoon in no time! Enjoy!

Delight yourself in the LORD and
he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

The name-it-and-claim-it crowd would immediately gravitate to the second part of the verse: “…he will give you the desires of your heart.”

“Yes, please! Give me the ‘desires of my heart,’ Lord!” followed quickly by, “I’ll even tithe 20% when I win the lottery!”

Hyperbole aside, do we unconsciously adopt a transactional approach to following God? Do we somehow think that if we obey Him and try to live a good life, He owes us? Is our first response when trouble comes, “Why me?” rather than, “Why not me?”

The key to receiving our hearts’ desires is found in the first part of this verse: “Delight yourself in the LORD…”

As we commit ourselves to delighting in God — to keeping HIM on the throne, to following HIS will and living life HIS way, to making it our chief aim to bring HIM glory — blessing upon blessing will roll right back upon us. We find ourselves joyful, even when circumstances are unhappy. We realize we are peaceful, even amid chaos. More and more, we see love lead out in our actions, attitudes, words, and behaviors.

This is the blessing of abiding in Christ.

As we make that daily choice to delight in Him, we will one day realize that, to our surprise and amazement, He has given us the desires of our heart. But He did something a little sneaky: He did by changing our hearts! What a joy to see our hearts transformed and brought into alignment with God’s will and His desires for us.

We are often quick to see the connection of emotions with our heart, but as women of God committed to transformation and maturity, it is our will that must be engaged. Let the emotions catch up later!

The mark of maturity is doing what you are supposed to do, what you are called and commanded to do, what is the right thing to do — even when you don’t feel like doing it. As have-to becomes want-to, then gives way to delight-to, you will have the desires of your heart!

Have you seen last week’s teaching lecture from our Bible study in Romans? If not, I invite you to watch watch today as we follow up last week’s discussion of God’s sovereignty with an examination of our responsibility to share the good news, so that everyone will hear and respond with believing faith!

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning,
great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

“New every morning.”

Don’t you love that phrase? It suggests a welcome freshness, a sweet new renewal as each day dawns: God is still with me. He still loves me. He is still for me. I can count on His love and His compassion. He is ever and eternally faithful.

When the world wants to condemn, when people let us down, and when we fail to keep our own resolutions, we may become dejected or fall into despair. But this passage reminds us that no matter how we suffer or what hard thing we walk through, we are not consumed—because we are His.

When everything else in life fails, God is faithful.

When everyone else walks away, God draws near.

Today may find you not feeling loved … or not even feeling lovable or worthy of love. However, circumstances do not dictate your reality. You are loved.

Maybe you have messed up—again. Shame and guilt may threaten to overwhelm. Perhaps you are looking around for compassion, but no one is offering. Time to look up. Compassion is there. It comes from God.

Stop looking around for the world (or your husband, sister, child, friend, co-worker, or neighbor) to deliver what only God can truly provide. His love and His compassion are constant. Unchanging. Eternal.

New every morning.

Like the manna provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, God’s faithfulness and His compassion are delivered fresh every day. Every. Single. Day. You can count on it.

Editor’s Note: If the mention of manna has you hungry for bread, check out this past week’s Martha Monday post over on the Cross My Heart Ministry YouTube channel for an easy and yummy recipe for bread. Fresh bread, start to finish in 20 minutes? Yes, please!  And while you’re there, if you haven’t yet done so, please go ahead and subscribe to our ministry channel!This week’s teaching lesson from the Romans Bible study addresses our questions about God’s will: What is God’s will? How can we know His will? Is it the same for everyone? I hope you’ll take a little time today to listen to this week’s lesson and consider God’s will in YOUR life.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
 and to put on the new self, created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24

Paul makes a clear distinction between:

1. Old Self: former, corrupted, deceitful
2. New Self: Like God, true righteousness, holiness

What a contrast! As followers of Christ, there should be a clear distinction between the old way of living and our new life in Christ.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians then (and, by extension, to us now) to stir up our hearts to live in the light of our new position in Christ.

There’s so much truth packed into these few verses! Let’s dissect them together:

You were taught
Paul begins by essentially saying “You already know this!” It’s so easy to lose our way, become distracted, or allow the world to push and pull us away from what we know to be true. We must diligently apply what we have learned.

Former way of life
Former means past. Done. History. (Can I get an “Amen!”?) Both individually and collectively, we declare, “Praise God! I’m not what I used to be!” The enemy wants to condemn, mock, and heap on shame. But that former way of life is gone. Our new identity is in Christ!

Put off/Put on
Living out our identity in Him is a daily choice. Day by day—and sometimes moment by moment—we make an intentional choice to “put off” the old sin nature and “put on” the new. Thankfully, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to help!

Corruption/deceitful desires
Self-awareness means I remain conscious of my tendency to sin. The old nature can rise up to distort, deceive, and corrupt. Choosing to “put on” a teachable spirit means I am humble enough to receive wise counsel—to ask God, my spouse, or a trusted friend, “Am I overreacting? Am I looking at this situation correctly? Are my antennae out too far?”

Attitude of your mind
Bingo. That’s where it all begins! The daily battle is won or lost in our minds. We think about it before we jump in and do it. What messages are replaying in your head? Is your thought life filled with God’s Word? Do you need to purge the “stinkin’ thinkin’”?

Created to be like God
It is God’s will for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. This process of sanctification will never be complete on this earth … it is continual from that moment of second birth until we pass from this life. The transformation brings freedom from sin and death! Are you looking more like your Father each day?

True righteousness and holiness
The adjective true suggests there is a false (or perhaps manufactured) righteousness and holiness. The false version is often the product of legalism. It’s exhausting at best (and cannot be sustained) and at it’s worst, leads to pride. True righteousness and holiness can only come from placing our trust in Jesus and yielding to the working of His Spirit in our lives.

Much of this may be familiar to you. Sometimes we don’t need to learn new-to-us truth—we just need to be reminded of what we already know, and be challenged to live it Are you ready to put off the old and put on the new?

This past week, we resumed our Bible study in Romans. I hope the teaching video will be a blessing to you … and if you have not already done so, please visit the Cross My Heart YouTube channel and become a subscriber today!

“But now, by dying to what once bound us,
we have been released from the law
so that
we serve in the new way of the spirit,
and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 7:6

Trying to keep the law is exhausting — and impossible!

Just ask the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son … or any reformed legalist in your life. (That might be you, in fact!)

Even if we do manage to buckle down and do a decent job of keeping the law on the outside, we most likely become self-righteous prigs (a word I am borrowing from C.S. Lewis, which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as, “a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others”). Maintaining the outward appearance of keeping the law makes us arrogant, prideful, and — let’s just admit it! — insufferable.

But eventually, keeping the law is unsustainable. The pressure leads to self-condemnation and shame and even more hyperactivity as we attempt to compensate for our failure.

Letting go of the pressure to perform brings sweet freedom.

Relinquishing the “have to” frees us to live it in the beautiful place of “want to” and even “delight to” as we serve our Lord.

Keeping the law was never intended to save us. It can only show us our need to be saved. The law underscores our deep need for a Savior. Functioning as a spiritual mirror, the law reveals our flaws … but just as a physical mirror cannot reach out and correct our smudged mascara, neither can the law fix what is broken in our lives. Only Jesus can do that.

And here’s the thing: the Savior that saved us is the Savior who sustains us!

As followers of Christ, we know our salvation is only received through Christ. Why, then,  do we think we can live the Christian life on our own? We need His Spirit to be saved and we need His Spirit to live saved!

Are you ready to give up on the pressure of rule keeping? Why not let 2021 be the year you kick legalism out the door for good and begin living like the free-in-Christ woman you are?

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