Today’s passage is Hebrews 10:1-18. Because the law is a shadow of the good that is to come, the sacrifices of it were unable to make worshipers perfectly cleansed of their sins. Instead, the blood of bulls and goats reminded them of their sins. So Jesus came and sacrificed his perfect body in a one time, perfect sacrifice and made us holy forever. And because of that, there is no further need of blood sacrifice for sin.
What rut are you stuck in, doing the same thing over and over without bringing about any lasting change?
What change have you seen in yourself because of Jesus?
A change I think I’ve seen in myself happened last week at school.
On Wednesday, two students were 13 minutes late for the bus taking their PE class bowling.
The bus naturally left without them. They came to the office to complain.
Some confusion ensued as office staff made phone calls to check on things and make hasty arrangements to get the students to the bowling alley.
I was in no mood to listen to the students’ self-righteous justification for their behavior. I sternly told them to report to me at the end of the school day for a minor punishment, writing 100 lines saying, “I will not be late.”
One of the boys insolently said, “What will that prove?” I exploded in anger, barely restraining myself from striking him.
I verbally assaulted him over his attitude and behavior.
Everything I said was true. But because I said it in a rage of anger, the words were wasted.
Everyone who witnessed by angry barrage was shocked. So was I.
The boys arrived for their punishment, wrote their lines and then listened to me apologize for my anger.
I didn’t sleep well that night at all because the Holy Spirit was working in me.
I could have no peace until I prayed and found an application.
Later the next day, during the boys’ PE class, I showed up and asked to see them. They looked scared. I took them out of class and we went for hot chocolate.
I apologized again for my anger, asked their forgiveness and asked for their thoughts and feelings about the incident.
They forgave me and said that everything I’d said to them yesterday was true.
They said I was probably still angry at the exam cheaters for breaking school rules and that when they broke a rule I just got more angry.
They showed that they knew me better than I did!
Because they brought up the exam cheaters, I referred to a question I had repeatedly asked the high school students during the assembly on the cheating episode:
What do you stand for? I applied it to myself with the boys.
I said I didn’t want to stand for anger and intolerance and lack of patience.
We started talking about our school attitudes.
The heart of my vision for our school is character education.
To help us focus on that we have 10 official attitudes, such as Integrity, Self-control, Grit, Courage ….
I asked the boys if they could only choose one for themselves, which one would they most want because they felt they lacked it.
We had a brief but fruitful conversation that was interrupted by a grade 3 boy who simply walked up to me to complain about the bad behavior of a grade 4 boy to him.
I dealt with that briefly and the little guy left.
What I then talked to the high school boys about was the comfort the grade 3 boy had in coming to me. I said my anger made a wall between me and them while the grade 3 boy didn’t feel any wall.
I apologized again and promised to work towards a happier relationship with them.
I said I was grateful for the episode because it showed me I had become someone I didn’t want to be.
I promised them never be angry like that again.
Because the Holy Spirit had moved me so greatly over my attitude towards my school and my students and used this episode to confront me, I believe I have changed.
I pray it is true.
Application: to pray for lovingkindness.
Lord, let me not be a prey of my own negative emotions. Let me meditate daily on what is good, true, noble, upright, admirable and praiseworthy.
