A Larger Conscience

Interestingly, not only individuals bring a sin offering to God, but the whole congregation as well. Perhaps that rubs us the wrong way, for we are more prone to think of individuals coming under conviction, individuals repenting, and individuals finding the new life in Christ. People may be saved through a church’s ministry, but may a church itself be saved?

If nothing else, perhaps the Old Testament, and this passage, in particular, will serve as a healthy corrective against exclusive emphasis on individual responsibility and virtual neglect of community responsibility. One can only wonder if our absorption with the individual has more to do with rugged, pioneer Americanism as its antecedent than with biblical thought itself.

God’s word to Israel was, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves” (2 Chr. 7:14. It is a word to all His people, not just to some of them. Perhaps the time has come for the church of believers to confess corporately our own sins, even those done “unintentionally.” Little progress in God’s name will be made while we point the finger at others.

Taken from The Devotional Daily Bible