Overview of: LeviticusToday's Reading:
Lev. 10:1 – 11:47
"Commands and Consequences"
Focus Verses: Lev. 10:10-11
10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses."
Insight:
The instruction and guidelines God gave to his people through Moses were commands, not suggestions. When Nadab and Abihu burned unauthorized incense (perhaps incense that was common in pagan worship - see Ex. 30:7-9), they were consumed by holy fire from God's presence. In approaching God, they had shown dishonor and carelessness. They had trivialized God's command, and in doing so they had trivialized and dishonored God.
Response and Action:
I cannot come to God on my terms. God is God and his commands are holy. To imagine that my relationship with God should be according to my personal tastes or ideas or traditions would be to make God smaller than me. Thinking I can live my life my way is like playing with fire. Following Christ must be done his way. Any confidence I have in approaching God is found in Christ Jesus, my Sovereign Leader, and his atoning sacrifice for me. I will love and obey Jesus and seek to do things his way.
O God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Forgive me for the times I put my ways above your ways. Help me to follow Jesus--to abide in his word, to love and obey him. Give me the wisdom and will to be more than just a hearer of his words. Help me to put them into practice, like a wise man building his house upon a rock. Thank you for the new and living way Jesus has made for me, and the confidence I can have through him. Amen.
New Testament for Today: Hebrews 10:19-20
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
In Context: Hebrews 10
Proverb for Today: Prov. 12:1
"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."
Resources:
The Pursuit of Holiness
by Jerry Bridges
