February 23 - Leviticus 20:1-22:33

Good morning everyone,

As we begin reading this morning we see just how serious God is about the worshiping of other gods. Can you imagine sacrificing another human being, much less your own child in some lame attempt to make your life better? There is nothing, not one thing right about that. We saw yesterday that God was real clear on what was acceptable behavior and what was not, today we read what the consequence of a poor choice, a choice to disobey God in those specific areas, would be. 

Also today we will also read what the rules for the priests were; what and who was acceptable to go before God; what clean and holy looked like and also what unacceptable sacrifices looked like. So much of what we are reading in Leviticus is repeated over and over again and with such detail that there is no question what it means. God did not want the Israelites, His chosen people, to fail. He wanted to bless them but first they needed to be cleaned up, rid of their sinful learned behavior, their lifetime routine which was familiar and comfortable.

When we first give our lives to Christ, accept Jesus as our Savior, we too are full of bad habits we have spent a life time forming. Automatic behavior. There is a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and the reaction to that is habit. It could be cussing, drinking, cheating on your spouse, stealing, any number of ungodly behavior patterns that have become a way of life, making them difficult to walk away from.

Many, many years ago I use to smoke cigarettes. I would have one first thing in the morning, when I got into the car, when I was cooking dinner, and especially right after some deliciously sweet dessert. I had created a pattern in my head, it is what I knew. Then I decided to quit smoking, leave that nasty habit behind, however my mind was already conditioned to pick up a cigarette and light it at key times of the day. Long after the withdrawals from nicotine left me I still found myself unconsciously going to get that “smoke” that my head told me it was time for and when that need wasn’t met,often I would get that “now what?” feeling come over me. Does that make sense?

Anyway, that’s exactly what the Israelites were facing only on a much grander scale. They had learned horrific bad habits and so they had to constantly be reminded it was not okay to do them anymore and that if the did the consequence of choice was harsh. God was deadly serious about living a pure and godly life.

God wants that for us too. He knows and understands the difficulties of putting bat habits behind us, the temptations to stay with the comfortable. Hard? Yes! Impossible? NO! Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” These are not just casual words thrown down on a page to fill space. They are the words of a promise from God to me, and to you, to absolutely know and believe. Whatever the demon you face, or how difficult and impossible the challenge before you seems to be, I would strongly encourage you to know and believe with all your heart that you CAN do all things through Christ Jesus who will strengthen you. God loves you and is always there for you.

I pray your day is awesome. To God be the glory.

God bless you all …