Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
Do not eat any detestable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud. However, of those that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the coney. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a split hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
You may eat any clean bird. But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
All flying insects that swarm are unclean to you; do not eat them. But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.
Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
Deuteronomy 14:1-21
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Chapter 14 begins with Moses reviewing guidelines for what foods God permitted Israel to eat. Food was divided into one of two categories: clean or unclean. Anything placed in the clean category was fine for Israel to eat. But if the food was labeled unclean, it was not to be eaten.
Two important things to remember about Moses giving these guidelines:
1. The guidelines had already been given and in much more detail in Leviticus (review chapter 11). So these directions weren’t new…only reminders.
2. Jesus revised the matter of clean and unclean food. Consider His words from Matthew, Chapter 15, verses 17 through 20:
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "
Jesus sets things straight. Food doesn’t make someone unclean. It’s what’s in the heart that does.
OK…so here’s the 99 million dollar question. Why in the world were these restrictions placed on food if Jesus was just going to write them off in the not too distant future? I think the answer comes in the prior chapter.
Remember the words from Deuteronomy, Chapter 13:
“The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”
The test spoken of in chapter 13 was whether or not Israel would give in to those who would entice them to engage in worshipping false gods. In chapter 14, the test involves whether or not Israel could avoid eating the foods that God told them not to eat.
Note that Israel wasn’t going to starve to death. It wasn’t as if God told them they couldn’t eat. He just told them what they could and couldn’t eat. All Israel had to do was be obedient to what God commanded. Israel would be what they ate. If they ate in accordance with God’s expectations, then they would be righteous and holy. If they ate the things that God told them not to eat, then they would be wicked and evil in sinful disobedience.
Today, we have many things available to us…some holy and pleasing to God and some detestable and evil in God’s eye. Everything we see, everything we hear, everything we do, everything we think, everything we breathe, everything we eat and everything we drink, all revolve around a myriad of choices. We can choose to ingest or engage in things that God desires or decide to go against His desires, choosing the world’s or Satan’s instead. And we, like Israel, will become what we eat…or drink…or breathe in…or hear…or watch…good or bad…holy or evil…righteous or wicked…whichever we choose. We are continuously being put to the test and, in the end, it does become our heart that determines whether we are clean or unclean…just as Jesus said.
So how is it with you? If you consider that you are what you eat, how are you doing when you consider what God expects? If the Lord were to look into your heart this very moment, what would He see? The answer to that is between you and the only One who can either help you change or continue to lead you in the right direction. Where would we be without Him? Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment