#286 Summation of Leviticus

I recognized one thing in Leviticus, both as a young man and now, and that is a sense of a culture foreign to my own. It is alien and so far from me to even begin or want to understand. My reaction today is much different than in so many years past. I want to know God for Who He is and understand the Author's intent in all of scripture. Yes, it is often contrary to my feelings, but I have come to confess God as the Creator and Author of life, and I did not make myself nor the things that I observe. The image of God has put a value on those that I share this planet with, and in Leviticus I find a holiness that leaves me standing at the precipice of eternity, staring out across an endless void. How will I treat those standing next to me? Will their maker allow for them to be degraded by me, reduced to their flesh, their labor, or even our differences?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20New International Version (NIV)

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

God doesn't need my endorsement. He is not waiting for me to decide whether He is God, Holy and Worthy. He has reached out from all of eternity in an act of love underserved and not repayable, yet it should and will be known in those who have received such grace as a change. It will be seen in the lives of those who worship in spirit and truth. The truth is not dependent upon my feelings, and it is not a lack of empathy on my part as we begin to disagree and drift away to our separate and dividing ideals. I do not love you any less, but I love God all the more, and I must come to understand these things through the grace provided. Leviticus has become a point of much contention, but alas I am still not God, and all this will pass away, but His word will remain. I haven't the position or the pull to change it to your or my liking. He is holy and therefore alien to me.

18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19).