Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
“The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. " 'Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the Lord your God. " 'When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the Lord; that person must be cut off from his people. 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven. When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God. Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or sorcery. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord. Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord. When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19
Be holy because I am holy. These words resonate from the Lord at the beginning of Leviticus, Chapter 19 and set up what is to come.
For following these words, the Lord goes on to continue setting a moral code for living for the people of Israel. The expectations were clear. The people were to obediently follow the Lord’s commands and expectations…commands and expectations from the very One who defined holiness. If the people were to be holy as the Lord was holy, they had to follow His guidance. And as the people of God, Israel was to stand out amongst pagan, sinful nations and reflect the righteous, holy character of the Lord. If they didn’t, how could others see any different way of living outside of the world’s way?
As we read through the expectations of the Lord, we see that it is basically a primer for doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. His instructions touched on the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai and then went much further to cover matters such as honesty, hospitality, respect, reverence, harvesting, gossip, treatment of others and proper worship. Some of the practices the Lord covers (eating blood, divination, sorcery, cutting hair at the sides, having tattoos) were performed within heathen communities and thus rejected by the Lord. As we have seen in other places in Leviticus, the Lord is very concerned about the Israelites being pulled into sin by assimilating themselves with the sinful, pagan cultures co-existing around them in Canaan. After all, if the people of Israel adopted heathen practices, then they would not appear to be any different that the heathens…and definitely would not be living in holiness by way of being obedient to God’s counsel.
The Lord caps off the end of the chapter with words that leave little doubt to what He wants from Israel. For He tells them, “Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them” and they were to do so because He said so…after all, He reminds them, “I am the Lord", an assertion He makes no less than fifteen times during this passage. There is little doubt who is directing Israel and there is no doubt as to how He wants them to live.
Question: Do you have any doubt how the Lord wants you to live? Do you seek Him daily and ask for Him to help make you holy as He is holy? Are you able to withstand the pull of the world and its sinful ways in order to stand firm on the Lord’s expectations and principles?
Well, the Lord’s guidance is as clear to us today as it was to Israel well over 2,000 years ago. For the Lord didn’t just go as far to say “Keep my decrees” but He then followed up with the order to “Follow them.” And to follow them means we need to more than just know the Lord’s expectations. We need to then put them into practice. Today, let’s take a moment to recommit ourselves to the Lord…to seek His will and way for everything that we do in our lives…to make a conscious effort to be holy as He is holy. Hear these words of exhortation from Peter:
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Friends…know and trust that the Lord is standing by and waiting to help us do just that...To be holy, as He is holy. For we know who He is because he reminded us…He is the Lord. This phrase is spoken by the Lord 156 times in the bible and usually, it isn’t good for Israel or anyone else when He says it. This is because He typically is sending some calamity on ones who have defied Him to show them that He is the Lord. Frankly, I think it’s easier to know Him as the One who told us how to live…and live in holiness. It’s the way I’m going to go and I pray you’ll come along as we continue this Christian walk together.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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