Tag Archive | Leviticus

Leviticus 13 and 14 – Can you afford sin?

May7

Good evening y’all. Today I’m combining chapters 13 and 14.

Be blessed 🙂

As I read the chapters, I see that God is really big on holiness. He really doesn’t want his people to be contaminated which will cause separation between them and Him. He gave specific instructions on how to identify what’s clean and unclean when it comes to skin disease, mildew on clothes and buildings. He also gave instruction on how to make them pure again.

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Few things I observed from both chapters.

1) The priest had to examine and identify those who were unclean or contaminated and give the prescribed remedy. In the same way Jesus is our high priest. Let’s allow Him examine and identify any form of uncleanness in our lives. Let His blood wash us clean and makes us brand new

2) Sin contaminates us and creates a barrier between us and God. It’s the same way those with leprosy were deemed unclean and had to be quarantined for a while and go through purification before they were allowed back into the camp.

3) Sin has to be dealt with at the onset immediately. We can’t cover it up. It will only grow and continue to contaminate us and if care is not taken we will infect others. The priest had to quarantine the person immediately they found out about the skin diseases or any piece of item contaminated with mildew.

“As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp. The priest must burn the item—the clothing, the woolen or linen fabric, or piece of leather—for it has been contaminated by a serious mildew. It must be completely destroyed by fire”. (Leviticus 13:46, 52 NLT)

“It must be torn down, and all its stones, timbers, and plaster must be carried out of town to the place designated as ceremonially unclean”.(Leviticus 14:45 NLT)

4) Sin is costly. I think about the price the I Israelite had to pay every time they sinned or were deemed unclean. It must have cost them a lot to keep bringing the best of their livestocks as sacrifices. Makes me appreciate what Jesus came to do for us. I’m forever grateful for the price He paid.

Our response is to make holiness priority in our lives with the help of the Holy Spirit. Living holy is not something we should joke with. I found a quote online by Pastor E A Adeboye which drove home the point –

“It is cheaper to live holy than to live in sin, ask Joseph. You can not sin against the Holy One who could help you achieve your destiny (GOD)”.

Had joseph given in to the temptation to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, his destiny would have been truncated.

I pray the words of David in Psalms 19: 13 -14 will be our heart cry to God.

“Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O  lord , my rock and my redeemer”. (Psalms 19:13-14 NLT)

Thanks for joining today

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Leviticus 11 & 12 – Acceptable in Gods eyes

May5

Good afternoon y’all. Today I’m combining Leviticus 11 and 12 together.

A common theme runs through both chapters (actually, it’s through all the chapters for this week).  The theme is: being acceptable by God and being holy.

As I read the chapters, I realised that God takes the issue of being clean/holy very seriously. He gives specific instructions on what makes the Israelites clean and unclean. He didn’t just stop there though,  He made provision for how to become clean, if in case they ever get themselves unclean. What a loving God He is 🙂 .

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God demands holiness from us because He is a holy God. In verse 44 and 45 he tells the Israelites :-
“I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy”. (Leviticus 11:44-45 GNT)

I believe the same applies to us today, yes we are no longer under the law but the truth is God never changes. If He demanded holiness from the Israelites back then, He is also demanding the same from us today. In 1 Peter 1:15-16 we see Peter repeating the same instruction to us.

“But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16 NLT)

God has standards for us. Throughout the scriptures He tells and shows us what is acceptable and unacceptable by His standards. The blood of Jesus cleanses and makes us holy and acceptable before God but I believe we also have a part to play to ensure we do not defile ourselves by going back to the lifestyle or things we used to do before we met Jesus. That’s why Paul urged us in Romans 12 to offer our lives to God as pleasing sacrifice, holy and acceptable in His sight.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him”.(Romans 12:1 NLT)

The same Paul also tells us in Eph 5:1 to copy God in all that we do.
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children”.( Ephesians 5:1 NLT)

Sin is the main blocker to living a holy life and according to psalms 119 verses 9 & 11, one of the ways we can prevent ourselves from sinning against God is to keep his word close to us and obeying them.

“How can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying your commands. I keep your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against you”.(Psalm 119:9, 11 GNT)

Today, lets pursue holiness in all that we do and let’s get rid of all that makes us unholy.

“With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God”. (2 Corinthians 7:1 MSG)

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***