March 10, Day 69 – We Do Not Know Our Own Hearts
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Mar 10
- 3 min read
Today’s readings are applicable to us and to our present culture. In each of our passages, we read practical wisdom to which we should all attend and dedicate our everyday practices. For example, in Leviticus 19-20, we recognize that God is now giving the Israelites a series of criminal laws after having already covered ritual laws regarding sacrifices and offerings, religious laws that governed the priesthood, purity laws that relate to cleanliness, foods, and good health, and civil and moral laws that relate to neighbors, spouses, (i.e., marriage) and sexual behavior. In this section, God addresses issues of personal and proprietary liability. He begins this section with “be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy’ (Leviticus 19:2). All of God's law begins with and is based on God’s holiness. Whether we like it or not, God gets to set the standard for law because [1] He is the sovereign Creator and Owner of the universe and [2] because He is the Standard for all law everywhere. His standard is holiness. He says, “Do not steal; do not lie; do not deceive one another,” etc., (verses 11, ff.) because these actions are unholy. We cannot emphasize enough that God separated the Israelites from Egypt and from the rest of the world by purification and sanctification (i.e., holiness) for His glorious purposes and for their good. Unfortunately, as we have seen, the Israelites were hardly out of Egypt before they rebelled against God – always seeking to be like the other nations around them in idolatrous practices. Israel’s idea of separation was vastly different from God’s. God wanted their separation to attract the heathen nations unto Himself. However, throughout the centuries, Israel carried the concept of separation to the extreme – self-righteous Pharisaical separation – which Jesus condemned. In Leviticus 20, God repeats, “You must therefore make a distinction … do not defile yourselves” (verse 25). He ends this chapter the way this section began in Leviticus 19: “You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own” (verse 26).
Proverbs 6:30-35 illustrates to us that, although all sins are a violation of God’s Word and against His holy character, nevertheless, different degrees of sin do exist. This means that some sins are more serious than others. This in no way excuses any sinful conduct, but it reveals that some sins have more harmful effects and more extensive consequences than others. Intentionally stepping on a neighbor’s toe may only cause him pain, but killing a neighbor affects the neighbor and his family (and potentially everyone). These proverbs also show us how capable we are of committing the worst kinds of sin. One of the problems about “little” sins is that they can quickly escalate into “big” sins that affect many other lives – individually, collectively, nationally, and internationally. For example, lies lead to wars. A hungry man who steals bread offends and affects both the baker and the retailer; the man who commits adultery harms the woman, her husband, any children, and himself – as well as the moral fiber of his entire nation (cf., Leviticus 19:29).
In Mark 14:43-72, we notice in verse 55 that “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but they did not find any.” Instead of looking for evidence, they should have been looking at the evidence – [1] The court was prejudiced against the accused (i.e., seeking “to put him to death” (verse 55); [2] The trial was an illegal trial which was held at night; [3] the trial was held in the wrong courtroom; and [4] the trial was based upon false testimony that did not even agree with itself; and [5] a guilty verdict was rendered at the time of the trial. In addition, we notice immediately and wonder how quickly and horribly Peter’s behavior deteriorated from “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you” (Mark 14:31) to “calling down curses on himself, swearing … ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about’” (Mark 14:71). Yesterday, however, we saw that Jesus answered this question for us – “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (verse 38). This section clearly reveals that none of us knows what we are capable of; we do not know our own hearts.
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