Day 7, 8, & 9
Exodus & Leviticus
Ok, call me shallow, but I had to combine these days.. I admit I skimmed much of them because if I'm not mistaken there was a rule about not going out in the back yard on the third day of an odd numbered month if it had rained the day before and you saw a cow jump.
What I did get from all of those rules, is the conviction that we must obey.
Obedience.
Too often we even mistake what obedience means. We use that as an excuse to quit something, to write someone out of our lives, or to explain not something God truly called us to do, but something that we convinced ourselves we were being obedient to God in doing.
I want to be very careful to make that mistake in my life.
In these readings, my notes all came back to the fact that when you follow the rules, you are blessed and provided for. When you do not, God punishes. Maybe that's what's wrong with the world today. There is no punishment for broken laws or rules. Not always. In Exodus when the people disobeyed the Lord's cmmand to only gather what they needed for the day - and in disobedience they gathered too much food to try to "save" it in doubt that God would provide for them tomorrow as well, -- he punished them by bringing maggots and rot to the uneaten food they were saving.
As terribly long (and boring) as it was to read those rules, and as terribly stupid as the rules of today seem, -- when you read through them you can't help but get a sense of reason for it. The rules that is. God blesses obedience, he punishes disobedience.
It's really as simple as that. We can think we can get away with it, or out of it, but some way, some how, some time, disobedience will bite us in the butt.
Always.
Truly, that is changing the way I think about rules.
And it's hard to do that. There are some really tough rules in these couple of days that in this day rage on and cause much misunderstanding and hatred.
Obviously homosexuality and tattoo's are the biggies here - in terms of present-day "rule-breaking" that is.
I'll have to disable comments on this entry I suppose, because I don't want an ugly debate, but as for me and what I'm reading, I don't understand how people who say they are true Christians, can defend homosexuality as "something someone is born with". How does that pass the Leviticus 18:22 test which clearly states, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Do Christians who defend homosexuality but who believe in a perfect God really think that that perfect God would create a human being to have a sexual preferance for someone of the same sex, when God himself commands us not to do and who calls that "detestable?"
I think we're blaming "DNA" when we should be blaming "free will of choice".
The flip side is that when you share what the Bible says, you are accused of being judgemental. And I would have to answer with that people do not know the difference between what's "Right from Wrong" and "Being Judgemental".
The Bible says to follow the rules as right from wrong. It does not say to hate the person, it says to hate the sin.
We are to love all people, not just those who don't commit sins. Which would be a rather short list!
It goes on in Leviticus 19:28 to say, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."
Which also, as widely popular as tattoo's are - begs the question of, "If you are a Christian, and you believe the Bible and you want to draw closer to the Lord and obey him for his full measure of blessings, do you get to pick and choose the things you want to obey?"
As much as I want an autism ribbon tattoo -- I have to admit, it has to be a "No."
Does it mean you must hate or not be a friend to anyone who is a homosexual, has tattoo's, or is anyone of any other type of sin? "No!"
What all that does mean to me is that if you are a Christian and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that again, in order to receive the FULL MEASURE of all God has for you, we've got to obey. And really, I'm thinking out loud here, but what does your Christianity mean to you if you do profess God as your Lord and Savior, but not enough to be obedient to him in all things?
Living like that to me, is like God saying to us, "Well, I love you but will only provide for you some of the time. I love you but will only forgive you some of the time. I love you but will only bless you when I feel like it.
No, God loves and forgives and provides for and protects and blesses us ALL OF THE TIME.
Shouldn't we at least do the same in obedience for him?
In Leviticus 19:37 God says, "Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the LORD."
Again in Leviticus 20:8 God says, "Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy."
Hmmmmm....
A tough couple days worth of reading about things that'll get you get unfriended on FB....
(smile)
