Reminded of the blood

You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. Exodus 29:19-21 As I was reading this during my morning devotions, it struck me what was being done here. A sacrifice was made to consecrate Aaron and his sons. A Ram was put to death in their place. Yet, notice what was done. The blood of that Ram that died in their place was mixed with oil and sprinkled on them leaving the stain of that blood on the linen robes they wore. That meant as the priests served in the temple, they carried the constant reminder of this sacrifice for their sins with them. Those stains were a constant reminder that they could only approach God because of the blood of the sacrifice. This brought to mind several things for me. First, that a Christian believers, it is only through the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that we can approach God. It is in him and his sacrifice that we are washed clean. While we are not marked with the physical blood of the Lord, we still should always seek to remember that sacrifice that brings us to God. We need to be constantly reminded that it is only through the blood of the Lamb of God that we sinners can come to God. If that filled our minds, wouldn't it change how we live, moving us to greater gratitude and love for our heavenly Father. He did not spare his own Son, but gave him for us. Wouldn't keeping this in our mind help us be humble and Christ focused? So we need to seek to keep the sacrifice of the Son in our minds, because as we focus on the cross, we are strengthened to live as people of the the cross. Second, it reminded me of a message preached by Doug Kelly at the Banner of Truth conference when he commented on Revelation 6:9. There we read, "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." He pointed out that their proximity to the alter in heaven would be a constant reminder of the love of our Lord and his blood shed for them. Here in this world, we often struggle to remember our Lord Jesus Christ, but when we come to eternity, we will no longer struggle with this. There we will always remember the love of Christ shown to us. We will always be reminded of how wonderful he is, and we will be single-heartedly focused on him. What a glorious thing to be reminded of that great love, of our great and glorious Lord, and of his willing sacrifice for the sins of his people. May that be what fills our minds as we minister in whatever role God provides for us. For we can only minister as God requires, as we live as people washed in the blood of Jesus.