3 26 26 – Daily Ash Removal

In our study yesterday, we focused on the way that you think will direct your choices in life and the outcomes (Prov. 23:7). What happens when you make a wrong choice and then you repent from that wrong choice? The Torah portion for this week, Tzav, gives us the solution in a way that we might not even consider. Let us take a trip to the ash heap and see what we can find. But before we get there, let us set the stage in a way that may surprise you :-)

Yeshua said, "By your words, you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned" (Matt. 12:37). To our surprise, He is not talking about judgment, as one might suppose. What is He actually saying? Is this about punishment? No, it is about self-exposure. Huh? In God's economy, words are not decoration. They are outputs. They reveal what already exists inside of you (Matt. 12:34). Your words are not accidents; they are indicators. You do not say what you intend; you speak what you contain in your heart. This is very practical: if my words are bitter, defensive, arrogant, or deceptive, they are revealing what I have stored inside. Our words testify about ourselves. They judge me because they expose me. It is a "diagnostic law." If any of us wants to change our life, we should not start by censoring our words; we need to change what fills our heart. Once this is done, our words will change automatically (Ps. 119:105).

What does this have to do with our last two studies on the RAS (reticular activating system) and the altar? Inquiring minds want to know :-)

And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.
(Lev. 6:10–11)

Have you discovered that all of us have faults and everybody has made mistakes in their life? Thanks, Mr. Obvious. But what do you do when you have done teshuvah (repentance) and you have sought forgiveness and reconciliation for whatever wrong you have done in life—that you have now made right? Leviticus 6:10–11 gives us a very specific answer.

Once the flesh of the animal is consumed on the altar, all that remains are the ashes. The ashes represent that event after we have been forgiven and cleansed. Unfortunately, as human beings, there are remnants of the sin—remnants of that area of our life where things went wrong—and the ashes represent the lingering effects of guilt, regret, shame, despair, and depression. Whatever it might be, the ashes should not and cannot remain on the altar.

The altar is the place where you serve God. And not only does it say that the ashes shall be removed, but there are specific instructions that if you are a priest, you should remove your priestly garments when you are removing the ashes. What does it mean? When you are serving God at your holy place, you are wearing new clothes—you are a changed person. You are not the same person you were yesterday when you made all those mistakes. Consequently and fortunately, now you are entitled to stand before the Lord your God in a new priestly garment (Zech. 3).

But why do you need to change them when you are removing the ashes? Because the slightest breeze—the slightest wind—can take those ashes and soil your new priestly garments. Do you see the picture in your mind? So just in case that could happen, you should take the necessary precautions of removing your priestly garments unless they become contaminated, soiled with the shame and regret of some past experience. The one thing we do not want happening in our lives is that once you have completed your repentance process, changed your life around, once you are no longer that same person you were yesterday, there is no reason you should get your new garment soiled with regret and shame of the past.

This is an everyday activity, when His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23). When the wicked lamp is destroyed (Prov. 13:9). When you trim the wicks and refill your lamp with fresh oil (Ex. 30:7–8). When you gather your fresh manna (Ex. 16). When you present yourselves as a living sacrifice (Ex. 29:39). When you enter into prayer at the golden altar of incense (Ex. 30:7–8). A new day and a new opportunity to continue to walk the path of truth and sincerity—without the ashes! 

Shalom,
Alan 

Check out a short video to get some more insights :-) 

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