“You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

Leviticus 20:26 (ESV)

Driving down the freeway not too long ago, I was going about 5 mph over the speed limit. But cars passed me by like I was standing still. Is it just me or is the “traffic flow” getting faster and faster? Occasionally, I see the blue and red lights on the side of the road, and someone has been pulled over. My hunch is that it is the fear of getting a ticket that keeps people from driving even faster. Isn’t that why we often check our rearview mirror?

Now I bring this up because laws that are not enforced are worthless. Most laws come with penalties. There is always somebody asking, “So what if I don’t follow the rule?”

God had previously given His moral laws. In Leviticus 20, He declared what the penalties were for violating them. These penalties may seem severe, but they prove how much God hates sin and how destructive sin is. The purpose of the penalties was to deter people from committing these sins and to purge evil from the nation. The Canaanites practiced these abominations, and it was why God ordered the Israelites to dispossess and destroy them.

As we consider God’s laws and His severe penalties for committing them, let us ask ourselves, “How seriously do I regard sin?” Thankfully, we are not under law but under grace for our salvation. But if we ever want to know just how bad sin really is, then we should look at the cross. That is the picture of Christ suffering the consequences of sin so that we could be forgiven. How can we then take sin lightly? How can we continue in sin thinking that we won’t be judged? Sin nailed Jesus to the cross, and we ought to nail our sins to the cross with Him. Christ died to make us holy to God. Let us do our part to ensure that His sacrifice for us was not in vain.

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