Rules Set Us Apart

Leviticus is a very long drawn out book of the Bible that explains many rules over what to eat, how to eat it, how to handle skin diseases, who to touch, and the list goes on.  It can get very repetitive and so detailed that I have no idea how they kept up with it all.  I was fascinated by the detail that God provided His people and how serious he was about them obeying.  It got me thinking about today and the rules we have in place.  They aren't nearly as detailed, mostly because we have watered them down and sugar coated them and made our own compromises.  But, thanks to Jesus, we don't have that fear of getting struck down after making one bad choice.

God was very serious about His rules, for example, certain animals were unclean and people weren't supposed to eat those animals but it was just as important that they didn't even touch a dead carcass of those unclean animals.  There was more to this than just following rules.  God was laying a foundation.  He wanted His people to be set apart as holy.  They had to look different and act different than anyone ever before.  But saying they couldn't touch a dead animal can teach us something very important about sin and temptation.  We shouldn't go near it even if, like the animal, we think it's dead and not going to do a thing or cause us to trip.  God wanted His people to separate themselves from the impurities of the world and He still asks that of us today.  He didn't want any of His children going near that which was unclean because He knew that the temptation was strong and so He set up strict laws and punishments for people to follow.  It was very important that people understood the seriousness of breaking the law, that it could lead to further sin and destruction.

This all applies to us today.  No, we don't have to offer up sacrifices and we have doctors and medicine to take care of our skin illness, but we do still have to obey God and when He says don't do something we must take Him seriously and obey His command.  We shouldn't even go near that which tempts us to sin.  Just as God called the Israelites to be holy, He calls us to be holy.  We are to look different from the world and remain spiritually separate from the sins happening around us.

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.

Leviticus 11:45 NLT