"it must not go out"

i'm reading leviticus at the moment
and i was thinking about the weight of all these regulations.
i think the most common feeling i have about leviticus is 'boredom', it seems so dry and so repetitive and so detailed and dull. but this time reading it i've been thinking about how elaborate it is, and what a process it is the make restitution for sin. i wrote under the title of the book in my bible "A HEAVY WEIGHT" because i think that is what we ought to feel as it's read.

and today i read 6:12-13 about the altar
"The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."

and it hit me a little, that God was openly not creating a system that would deal with sin. in generations down the line the priests would be burning sacrifices on the fire that Aaron first used. and every day of the calendar year the priests would have the flame alive and burning because there would be need, every day, for a sacrifice for sin.
and i thought about how amazing it was that in Hebrews it can say about Jesus:
"Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."

and without ever or at all wanting to undermine the finality of Jesus' sacrifice, i think that the constant fire in leviticus still stands to teach me something.
i thought about how the fire was a continual reminder of sin and separation and a need for sacrifice. and i thought about how before you get to chapter four of leviticus you've had a whole list of sacrifices, but you still haven't had one that deals with sin. and how there is a place for sacrifices of fellowship and free-will offerings in the people of God (and in me, a person of God).

and i thought it would be a good thing if i went through my days and weeks and years, considering this fire that 'must not go out' and to apply this to myself in the constancy of my repentance. to bring every sin to God every day, without a lamb or a bull or a goat or a ram, but trusting in Jesus' blood. but the lesson for me here is that the fire of my repentance is one that 'must not go out'. i mustn't leave my sin and hide it and forget it and let it grow; bur at every moment, every shortcoming and failing, i should come to His throne and confess my inadequacy and appeal to His cross, which has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.