In this week’s Torah passage, we read about the many sacrifices that Adonai required from the Israelites. Hebrews 9:13-14 says “For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to G-d as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living G-d!” The sacrifices offered previously could make someone ritually pure, but they couldn’t renew someone’s mind. They couldn’t change a person from the inside out. Yeshua offered himself as a sacrifice so we could be renewed and changed. Romans 8:6 says “Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom.” Studying Torah is changing me.
My mind is being renewed. I am not struggling to control my mind, and keep myself from thinking things I know I shouldn’t think about. It feels like a miracle to me. And this gives me confidence to trust G-d for other areas of my life as well. If He can do that, then He can do anything. “I will not forget your precepts, for with them you have made me alive. ” Psalms 119:63.