holiness – Be Still…

Leviticus 19:1-37 – What Holiness Looks Like

Read Leviticus 19:1-37

What a list! On the whole, these instructions seem wise and beneficial to maintaining a right relationship with God. Just because Jesus came, I don’t think we should overlook God’s desire for his people to be holy. For he says, “You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” In the New Testament, 1 Peter 1:15-16 reaffirms this command.

Several times, we read this exclamation, “I AM the LORD your God.” As if God’s message needed emphasis or the people needed to be reminded who was speaking. If God speaks, we certainly want to be listening. Even if the original audience of these words isn’t us directly, we can and should open our ears and our minds to reflect on God’s message. Continue reading “Leviticus 19:1-37 – What Holiness Looks Like”

Ezekiel 42:1-20 – Holy Rooms

Read Ezekiel 42:1-20

Oh to be an architect and be able to make sense of all these details. Being able to picture these divine plans coming to life would be magnificent. One measurement I can almost picture is the perimeter of 875 feet. This is 291 yards, so nearly three football fields! That’s a lot of real estate to cover.

Ezekiel’s guided tour is coming to an end as this reading is the last of our temple dimensions. The vision will continue to give Ezekiel purposeful instructions, but for now we see the distinction between what is holy and what is not. A separation exists between the priests and everyone else. Even the priests have a time when they are recognized as holy and an expectation of what they must be doing. Continue reading “Ezekiel 42:1-20 – Holy Rooms”

1 Peter 1:13-25 – Holy Living

Read 1 Peter 1:13-25

Who said we are born without an instruction manual? Once we’re born again and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Bible is the only reference we need for life. Peter’s counsel here is brilliant to point us to the truth found in scripture when figuring out what being holy is all about.

Our reading starts with a call to action by Peter. He wants us to pay attention. The words that follow are just that important. Peter opened his letter (see our last two readings) by reminding us of our salvation and God’s sovereignty. This section shows us our response, what to do with that gift. Be holy.

Hebrews 12:14-29 – Unshakable Faith

Read Hebrews 12:14-29

What a wake-up call! The Preacher doesn’t want these new believers (or us) to miss out on God’s promises. He uses the example of Esau as our wake-up call. “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” Can you imagine not seeing God face to face someday?

Beyond our eternal home, the message to be at peace with others is pretty timely. It seems we can’t even scroll through social media these days without seeing all sorts of outlandish comments and hurtful communication. Who does that? We can all fall prey to one of the biggest sins in my book, gossip. We need to be focusing on living a “holy” life instead.

Hebrews 3:1-6 – Be the Church

Read Hebrews 3:1-6

We have seen the author speaking to the supremacy of Jesus in these first few chapters. However, today the focus shifts to a comparison of Jesus and Moses, through whom the law was given on Mt. Sinai. For the new Jewish believer (the original audience of this Book), Moses was a very important figure in Jewish tradition. It was Moses who was used by God to free their people from slavery as they were led to the promised land. I don’t believe this text was meant in any way to downplay Moses as the hero he was. Yet, we see again that Jesus’ power is greater than what we can already fathom.

The focus then shifts to God’s whole house, the church, and who is in charge. We are the church. Moses was a servant just as are we. Jesus built the church and is in charge of the church. It’s up to us to serve and to “keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.” Sometimes that can be hard when the world closes in around us.