Leviticus 20:7-8 - Consecrated
“Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.”
Leviticus 20:7–8, ESV
There are many statutes that God set for the people of Israel and any who would call themselves a follower of Him. Thankfully, in Jesus, we have been redeemed. Though, that does not mean that we are free to break all the statutes that God set for the people of Israel. The consecration that our Lord desires for us to be holy remains. The sanctification that our Lord God gives has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Sometimes, we try to act like the whole of what God says in the Law is no longer applicable to us in Christ, as if Jesus abolished it all. It is true that some of the purity laws and the practices of food are no longer applicable because of Peter’s vision. The law of the Sabbath is not the same for us as it was for the people of Israel either. Yet, we can look to the Beatitudes and find that some of the teachings have been strengthened, particularly when it comes to how we treat others and sexual immorality. Jesus also gives greater strength to the importance of keeping marital vows and the marriage relationship of one man and one woman not being broken because the practice of divorce in Jesus’ day was not uncommon. Our Lord calls us to be a people set apart, holy. We are meant to be different. Much of this is shown in our treatment of others, how we treat the stranger and the sojourner. How we treat our relationships with one another is a vital part of our relationship with God. We are not to act like the people around us that are not followers of the one true God. Let them see us differently and hope that what they see through us in our Lord Jesus Christ that they may yearn to come to Him. Let us treat them as we would Christ and let Christ shine through in us.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.