God Calls us to Love and Respect All

Leviticus 19:16-18 -  " 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.”

 

These verses…seemed to speak to my heart this morning.  Tucked deep into a long list of laws based on generosity and respect for others…this ‘do not’…is timely advice for all the hate messages….bashing of ideals….and rash of dropped friends from the recent election. God told Moses that we are to treat each other with respect…be  careful not to slander…and never hate a brother in our hearts. We are not to seek revenge….but just simply speak what we know to be the truth…so that love is maintained.

 

I have to admit…and I did not decide until I stepped behind that voting booth….but I did not vote for the president. And I didn’t have a passion about my choice when I pushed that button either. I wanted to vote for some crazy write in…to make a point that we really had no good choice…but that seemed wrong too…so I chose what seemed to be a possible change…no other real reason in mind.

 

Many others obviously chose the President….and I am sure that some of them prayed...and felt led to do so. And God has allowed the President another 4 years in office…like it or not.  I am certain that God has a purpose and a plan for how it all came down….and I must continue to seek his will for what part I will play in the government of our nation over the next few years.

 

What shouldn’t have surprised me…but did catch me a bit off guard….and truly disturbed my spirit greatly…was the way the hate flew free on the internet yesterday…and continues today.  Posts that bashed people for their choices…posts that revealed deep hurt…because so-called friends had dropped them from their friends list. The names I saw in print were not appropriate for my dog…let alone any human creation of God. This scripture rebukes such behavior….it says that respect and love are called for….even when there are disagreements among us.

 

All the hate does is evoke more fear…fear of what we cannot see. All the hate does is drive great rifts of separation between the people God created to love each other…unconditionally. All the hate does is blind our hearts from seeing and deafen our ears to God’s soft voice.  Satan is so cunning…see how he tricked us! He used our fear and hate to divide us….to keep us from living continually in God’s love and control.

 

My answer…is to go back to that scripture in Joshua 24…verse 15 …. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord... 

 

I do not serve man…I choose to serve God…but I will respect the choice that was made Tuesday.  I choose to serve God…and try to love everyone…in spite of the differences we might have between us.  I will seek God in simple prayer….because God is in control….and he calls us to unite in prayer and seek his will…to simply accept and move on…and try to understand …and keep on loving.

 

Father…I thank you for the peace you give when I turn my conflicts over to you.  I know you have this…and I pray that you will flood my entire world with your great love and peace and unify this nation so torn and fighting.  Unite us with your great love and help us to put behind us the hate and fear that has gripped our hearts. Help us to pray and search for your will in this time of conflict and confusion.  Amen.

Share the Truth in Love

Leviticus 18:22-28 - "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.  "Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.  Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.  But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

 

The list of don’ts gets pretty explicit here…as God tells Moses to let the people know that they are to be different from the people around them. We are not to defile ourselves with sexual practices that twist the intimate relationship ordained by God in Genesis.  One must not marry or lie with a close relative…animals… or those of the same gender. They were to live an example for the pagans that practiced such things… and see these things as detestable.

 

Our world has become a place where this is more common than we care to believe...and the industry of pornography glorifies and spreads these lies to all.  Most of us can agree that marriage to a close relative is wrong….and not many have any problem accepting that one wife is God’s best way….but the common practice of homosexuality has stirred a controversy….that has separated even the best of friends that find themselves on opposing sides. God’s love calls us to keep trying…in loving…nonjudgmental ways…to share the truth of the Bible with them…until one day the spirit will make it clear to them too.

 

Oh how my heart is torn for those that have chosen this way…for the scripture of God is clear here. Satan has trapped them in a lie to themselves….and they are doomed for a life of sadness and separation from the holy father. It really doesn’t matter how they came to see it as okay…God says they must stop…or he will vomit them out.  My heart tells me to love them….and search for ways to share God’s truth…but most of the time I share this truth…they reject it.  Some that long to have relationships with God even find scripture they can twist into telling them that there is no sin in this practice.

 

And this wasn’t just a rule for God’s people in the Old Testament…one has only to read 1Corinthians 6:9…1Corinthians 6:11…1Timothy 1:10…or Jude 1:7 to find evidence that this rule was not changed after Jesus came to die for our sins.  He still calls us to separate ourselves from these ways that pervert the intimacy he designed between a man and a woman that only God joined together in marriage.

 

So…I guess I have been reminded once more that God loves all people…but he calls us to hold the truth in our hearts…and share it unwaveringly… without judging those that do not interpret the word of God as it is written here in the Old testament…and confirmed in the New Testament. We are called to love all….but to hold to the standards he set forth for us in all our relationships to others…to set ourselves apart in all that we do…and simply cite his scripture when we are asked what we believe.

 

Father...you have created me with only one purpose…to love you and share your gospel with those around me.  It is not up to me to judge others…it is up to me to share what your word says….simply…plainly. It is only your spirit that can transform their brainwashed mind…and help their heart to understand and accept the truth. Help me father to be careful that I love all people…regardless of what they believe about you…or how they interpret your words in the Bible.  Give me words of love to share with everyone…so that I may model your perfect peace and walk in your truth in all that I do. Amen.

Seek an Attitude of God's Control

Leviticus 17: -5-7 -  This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is, to the LORD, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings.  The priest is to sprinkle the blood against the altar of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.  They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.

 

The books of Leviticus contain so many rules….so many symbolic rituals.  Moses was given instruction after instruction to communicate to the people. This one was simple….stop sacrificing your offerings any other place than the altar of God at the door of the tabernacle. God’s presence dwelt in the heart of that camp….inside the Holy of Holies…and any sacrifice offered to him would only be accepted at the door of his house.  The blood of atonement had to be sprinkled there…where God had told them too….the sacrifice had to burned on the altar he told them to build…case closed…no exceptions.

 

I am sure it was easy said than done….for the sacrifices they had been offering on their own… meant that they had adopted the attitude of…” I can do this my way instead of God’s way!” this attitude seems harmless enough…but God said it plain in verses 8-9, “Say to them: 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD--that man must be cut off from his people.”

 

This scripture is still crying out to us today…I know that we do not have to offer blood sacrifices anymore…God took care of that when he allowed Jesus to shed his blood to pay for all our sins.  And technically we carry his house around with us now that he allows his spirit to live inside each of our hearts….so any offering of praise…or sacrifice we make to him is always at the door of his tabernacle….but I hope I am not the only one walking this Earth that has a problem with my attitude. The hedonistic view of...if it feels good…it is a thing God gave us…is not always the case. We twist the words of the Bible to fit what we want to do…instead of letting the words of the Bible lead us to the thing God wants us to do.

 

Jesus talked so much in the New Testament about cleansing our hearts….making right our attitudes toward the rules his father gave Moses. Samuel might as well have written Judges 17:6 for us…. “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  We too have adopted an attitude that we have the right to decide what is right in our own eyes…and forget to check it against the words written down for us in the Bible…we search scriptures for one we can twist to justify whatever we want to do…so we can say we remain his child…when in actuality we are moving far away from his direction in our lives.

 

We must begin to bring every part of our lives into God’s control…check what we do and say constantly with his words from the Bible he gave us to live by.   We must stop justifying and searching his word for ways to sidestep what he really wants for us…a life lived in sacrifice and love to the father…so grateful for his presence in our lives that we bring him our time…our deeds….our work…our money…..our homes….our cars….all the things he blessed us with…and we lay them at his altar…and we allow him to direct everything we do with them.

 

Father…you are so patient and merciful to me.  I am humbled to feel your love and care…even though I am guilty of justifying some of the things I do because I wanted too…and I did not see the harm…or know your word enough to feel the wrong of what I did.  Fill me this day Lord with the knowledge of your Bible….let me study to show myself approved…and lay aside all my former attitudes.  Replace all the things in my life that are done because I want to… with things that I need to do because your word says for me to. Make me a servant…bold and wise with the words you feed me with… every evening that I open your book to study. Include in my morning prayers a request to stay totally within the will of the father…set forth to me by your word! Amen.

 

 

Wash and Dress for God

Leviticus 16:7-10 -  Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.  He is to cast lots for the two goats--one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat.  Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering.  But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

 

Once a year…Aaron was to wash and dress and prepare a sacrifice for himself…so he could be ready to meet with God and ask for the atonement of all the sins of the nation. One goat was given the honor of burning on the altar and being sacrificed to God…the other had to bear the sins of the whole camp…and be released into the wilderness carrying the full weight of those sins.

 

I wonder what went through the minds of all those people gathered to watch this curious ritual each year. Did they visualize all the things they had done wrong leaving camp with that goat…and repeat in their hearts as Aaron sacrificed the other?  Did they gather with indifferent hearts…not feeling in part in the service? Or did they think it was an empty ritual….a wasted meal that could have fed some poor family?

 

I wonder what Aaron felt as he dressed that day…gathered his strength and courage…lit the incense in the censor that would shield his eyes from the holy presence of God. Oh how he must have looked forward to this meeting with God in the Holy of Holies…to drink in his glory and feel the renewal of his presence in his own heart.

 

I know that I should carry God with me everywhere I go…but there is something special about going to meet with him at his house. I know that the church is really the people that gather there…but I just can’t let go of the concept that he calls us to meet with him in corporate worship.  He calls us to fall on our knees and praise him with our voice and our prayers. He calls us to meet together and encourage…to thank God for sending his son to be the final scapegoat.

 

It reminds me that my own weekly meeting with God at his house should be anticipated more. I should dress and wash myself and prepare my heart to meet with him. I should light the fire of my heart…and run to meet with my fellow Christian friends….and seek his glory. I should fall on the altar and beg God to cleanse me and give me power to do his work…to teach and to witness to the millions who still don’t know him.  To pray for those who have accepted him in countries where Christ is not loved by all…where persecution makes the name Christian a hard road to walk.

 

God forgive me for my indifference to the lost around me. Help me to understand that being called to be your child involves work…and sacrifice. Give me a renewed passion to do your work…and seek you to provide the power I need to serve you…and win the lost. Help me to start to wash and prepare myself to meet you every day! Amen.

It's Not TMI to God

Leviticus 15:31   -  " 'You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.' "

 

God sure covered everything! Moses was given the directions for how to handle the fluids that were discharged from male bodies when they had diseases…where unnatural fluids came from private places. He shared with Moses what to do with the secretions from intimate relations with our spouses. And God shared with Moses how to be purified every month when the woman’s body naturally cleansed itself from the unneeded material that wasn’t needed anymore if there were no pregnancy.

 

I wonder if Moses’ face got red as God shared all those details….I sure did have a time deciding which scripture out of these loaded verses to post. Our world has become a little too open with its commercials on monthly womanly needs …and birth control. And surely I am not the only one who thinks that those commercials for men who want to be virile in their declining age are just a little more than inappropriate for mixed audiences!

 

But I guess I have to listen on this one…for it must be an important issue to God…or he would not have allowed a whole chapter to be dedicated to such sensitive subjects. They did live in a desert….and bathing was probably not done every day as we do now. I am sure that part of God’s reasoning was to just promote good hygiene….and prevent the spread of diseases contacted by body fluids. But part of his orders…. to keep such strict rules in these areas that seem so private to us today…have to be to show us that God is in control of all our lives…even the most intimate times….even in the routine cycles that he created to give us children…and the sharing of the two seeds that gave life to a couple.

 

God also wanted us to know that these things did not belong in his tabernacle…it was reserved for his holiness. And we must present ourselves clean and fresh when we approach him to offer our praise and offerings to him. All traces of anything that might be deemed unclean to God…had to be removed by washing with water…so that his house and his holy presence would remain among them.

 

Father…I thank you that you created me with a way to create life…and that you blessed me three times with a child to love and nurture. Wash me clean and purify me anew with your living water…so that I might be ready to worship and praise you with each day you grant to me past this moment. Help me to realize that I need to wash myself spiritually as well as physically…so that I will be ready to serve you. Amen.

Cleansed and Set FRee

Leviticus 14: 3-7 –The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him. If the person has been healed of his infectious skin disease, the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed.  Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.  Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then he is to release the live bird in the open field

 

God was not through giving Moses directions about leprosy…he added these verses for the rare occasion when a leper just happen to be cured. The ritual had them call for the priest to examine them…and if they were indeed found clean of leprosy…they were asked to bring two birds…a small stick of cedar wood…some hyssop branches…and tie them together in a bundle with the scarlet string. One of the birds was killed and the blood drained into a clay pot of fresh water…and the live bird was dipped together with the bundle of cedar and hyssop and sprinkled seven times onto the one cured of the leprosy. Then the live bird was set free...to fly out over the open fields around the camp.

 

What joy this ceremony must have brought to the one declared clean…what great relief must have been felt by his family as they anticipated the moment they would be together again. We could conjecture about why each object was used and why…but the important thing is that the ceremony gave them back their standing in the camp.  It declared to the whole nation of Israel that they were clean…and able to return to a normal life…that included the fellowship they had been deprived for so long.

 

The mental picture of that process had me immediately thinking about the joy and peace I felt when Jesus saved me.  His precious blood shed on that cross…dying to pay the price for my own sins….sins that had caused me to be separated from God’s great love and care. And as God allowed Jesus’ lifeless body to be dipped down into the depths of hell….his perfect life tore through the darkness and unleashed power that erupted a giant hole in Satan’s trap.  Satan could not hold him there…and he flew free to join his father in Heaven.

 

God’s love continues to save those that believe in his son’s act of love on that cross.  He takes all the sins we ever committed….and forgives them.  He intercedes for us as our high priest…and declares us clean. We don’t even have to be sprinkled with blood 7 times anymore…he just sets our sins on the wings of the heavens and sets us free like that dove. The chains that bound us to the world just fall off ...and his peace and love replace the worry and fear that held us in Satan’s grip.

 

Father…forgive me for not thanking you every day for the high price of my freedom. Keep a mental image of the pain you suffered to send your son to be the last sacrifice ever needed to pay for sin. And Jesus…thank you for your obedience…for listening to your father…and completing the painful job he sent you to do. There are no words that will ever allow me to totally comprehend that gift…until the father gets ahold of my heart like he did yours…and teaches me how to follow his perfect will too. Thank you both for sharing the Holy Spirit with me…help me to understand it more…and draw from its power ….and do the work you put me here to do. Amen.

 

 

Unlucky Lepors

Leviticus 13: 43-46 -  The priest must examine him, and if he finds swelling around the reddish white sore,  the man is infected with a contagious skin disease and is unclean. The priest must pronounce him ceremonially unclean because of the infection.  "Those who suffer from any contagious skin disease must tear their clothing and allow their hair to hang loose. Then, as they go from place to place, they must cover their mouth and call out, 'Unclean! Unclean!'  As long as the disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean and must live in isolation outside the camp.

 

God continues his directions to Moses with instructions for a very contagious disease… the horrid disease of leprosy.  The priest had to inspect the skin of any suspected rash for the signs of leprosy…and declare them clean or unclean.  Then they were instructed to tear their clothing and let their hair go loose…and warn anyone who came close by calling out their pronounced uncleanliness….as they made their way around the outskirts of the camps to the separated area just for lepers. It’s as if God knew we would someday assign the number 13 to unlucky things…and placed these directions right in chapter thirteen.

 

Leprosy was a disease that tormented the skin….and left untreated…eventually attacked the nervous system as well. It disfigured its victims…and ruined any hope of living a normal life with their family The commentaries I read said that it was believed they brought the disease with them from Egypt.  Any open sore was an invitation for these germs to spread to a new host…and so God gave them very strict rules for handling the ones who contracted any sign that they might have it.

 

My ‘you version’ bible found 79 verses in the Bible that contain the word…most in the Old Testament.  These verses are mixtures of warnings ….directions for what to do if you have it…directions for what to do if somehow you are cured…and stories about several people who had to live with it.  But the New Testament verses are all about how Jesus used many of these ‘unclean’ lepers to show his healing power.

 

Some commentaries felt that Jesus was so serious about leprosy…because it paralleled the way sin corrupts our lives.  We catch it…it spreads and is very contagious…it ruins our life and separates us from God.   So since Jesus was the high Priest who could wash away any unclean thing in any life…he used this disease with so many stigmas attached to show his healing power. 

 

So…even if you don’t have leprosy…you may have other things…probably sinful in nature… that have affected you the same way. It has caught you in an unhealthy grip…and it is spreading to others around you.  It will eventually separate you from God …if it hasn’t already…and prevent you from doing his will here on Earth.  You need to call out to him for his healing…and have him declare you clean again!

 

Father…I thank you that even this seeming chapter about a rare disease in my world today…gave me yet another lesson in just how easy it is to fall into sin.  I must guard myself against the evil and sinful things around me …so I can stay unaffected by its contagious effects on me.  Wrap me in your word and give me time to pray for strength and guidance. Coat me with the protection I need to keep the world from sucking me into anything that will separate me from you. Amen.