Conformity...

What's with Leviticus?  Why do I need to know all of the different animals that are clean and unclean?  Why should I read through instructions on how to offer sacrifices?  This information does not seem relevant to me!  HOWEVER...  This book is able to help us, today, understand the laws and regulations of Bible time.  Leviticus is a reminder that God is holy and calls us to be holy.  How many times does the word "holy" appear in the book of Leviticus?  71 times (NLT)!  Wow, do you think God was calling his people to live a holy life?  What does it mean to be holy?  To be holy is to be set apart, to be different, to be unique. 

Leviticus 11:44-45

"For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy." 

 

Just like the Israelites, we have a choice.  We can choose to be set apart, to be different, to be unique, to be "holy", or we can compromise with the world and let sin control our lives.  God gave the Israelites laws and restrictions to help guide them in remaining holy.  What laws and restrictions do we have today to help guide us in staying set apart?  The answer is simple, God's word - the ultimate guide to living holy in an unholy world.  Unlike the Israelites, we are surrounded by unbelievers everywhere we go, but God doesn't expect us to be holy all on our own.  With Jesus, we are called to live in the world, but not of the world! 

 

1 Peter 1:11-16

"So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy.""

 

Our focus should be on becoming conformed, inward and outwardly, to God's standards - to what God calls us.  We are to be completely devoted to God, set aside for His use, and set apart from sin.  We are to be holy, just as our Father is holy!  

 

Colossians 1:21-23

"This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it."

 

We are not holy, until we choose to be.  By accepting Jesus and claiming His reconciliation - we can be holy!  So, the question is: Will you stand before God as holy and blameless without a single fault because of His cleansing? OR Will you stand before God carrying your sin because you choose to become of the world?

 

"Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

I once was fatherless
A stranger with no hope
Your kindness wakened me
Awakened me, from my sleep

Your love it beckons deeply
A call to come and die
By grace now I will come
And take this life, take Your life

Sin has lost it's power
Death has lost it's sting
From the grave You've risen
Victoriously

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

My dead heart now is beating
My deepest stains now clean
Your breath fills up my lungs
Now I'm free, now I'm free

Sin has lost it's power
Death has lost it's sting
From the grave You've risen
Victoriously

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

Lift my hands and spin around
See the light that I have found
Oh the marvelous light
Marvelous light

Sin has lost it's power
And death has lost it's sting
From the grave You've risen
Victoriously

Into marvelous light I'm running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

Lift my hands and spin around
See the light that I have found
Oh the marvelous light
Marvelous light, marvelous light