Not just promises, ideas and hopes – Jesus is the real thing

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Reading this alongside Exodus I feel I'm getting into the swing of gifts and sacrifices, and yet it's clear that Jesus has changed everything - not so much abolishing but completing the old systems which, it turns out, were "a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven." Jesus, on the other hand, is contact with heaven itself.

It is an incredible hope that we have in Jesus whose “once for all” sacrifice goes far beyond what religion can deliver. It focuses the whole power of heaven to break the hold of sin and death in my life, in all our lives, for whatever is in our past, present and future.

This is not just forgiveness for sin, but freedom from it. God's desire is not to turn a blind eye to our wrongdoing, but enable us to live without doing wrong, and the writer encourages us to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" with confidence and faith.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God is who he is in both Old and New Testaments - loving and encouraging when we approach him, but ready to judge and discipline us when we turn away. He has also been at work throughout history in directing people towards reconciliation with him.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

As encouraging as this is, it's also a real challenge to move out of all kinds of sin and guilt in life. Sometimes it's frustration and anxiety which gives rise to sin in me, yet if I can see things from the perspective of God who has dealt with and overcome everything, I should be able to see the things which make me anxious differently. That's what I want to do.

Who am I going to share this with?

People I pray with, and maybe more. I’ve got some faith stories I’d like to share with a wider audience, and they are a work in progress.