Good Morning All,
Leviticus 19:2; “Speak to all the
congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I
the Lord your God am holy.”
There are those who read
this and see only God’s law. These
people then turn around and show only God’s law to people. These people will see a situation and say,”
your sin caused it and now God is punishing you for it.” Unfortunately, this is the voice that many
non-Christians hear. They see the church
as quick to judge and slow to aid.
Perhaps they have even experienced it.
A woman who had an abortion a few years ago and now is having other
related health issues, a homosexual who has AIDS, a drug addict who is
homeless; these are examples of people who may only hear the church say “Thou
shalt not..” They have needs and seek
comfort but are we there to offer them God’s Gospel?
Some read this as a
promise to great prosperity. If we are
holy like God is then we should be powerful and wealthy like he is and since
God does as he sees proper; so, can we.
These people read this as a license of entitlement. They see it as “what God owes me.”
We read it
differently. This verse doesn’t speak of
our actions or character; it speaks of our relationship with God. Because of what God has done, we are set
apart from the rest of the world. This
doesn’t mean we are better or superior.
It does mean that God has blessed us far beyond any measure that we can
conceive of. We have been redeemed and
called the children of God; we are declared heirs of his eternal kingdom. Because of God’s grace, we have a relationship
with him that is different than the unbeliever.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites engaged in many ceremonial rites
and laws which clearly set them apart from their neighbors. We too, should be seen as set apart not so
much by our ceremony but by our actions within the society in which we
live. God gives to us the vertical
relationship with him and then he calls us to live in a horizontal relationship
with our fellow man. We might call the
relationship with God “liturgical” (church speak) and a relationship with our
neighbors as an “ethical” (world action).
The world should see the
results of our relationship with God. In
that relationship, we are forgiven entirely by God’s grace. We should therefore deal with our fellow man
with the same grace. God has chosen you
and he has chosen to reach out to the world through you. You have been called to a wonderful task; the
same task that Jesus lived while here on earth.
We are blessed and privileged to carry it out. Go with God’s blessings in touching the
world.
Dear Father, by your grace you have set us
apart; you have declared us holy. Give
us the courage and the wisdom to live our holy life-giving glory and honor to
you. In Jesus’ precious name we pray,
amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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