You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. Deuteronomy 12:4 (Chapters 12-16)
Going beyond the admonition to love and obey, the specific laws of daily living are once again restated. God intends for His people to be set a part, different from all other cultures and nations on earth. Acclimation is not acceptable, remaining different is!
God made provision for every circumstance that will ever arise, from worship to accidental death. Worship will keep Israel connected to God and obedience will bring blessings unique to them only.
Though we are no longer held to the rigid laws of diet and ceremonial cleansing, it remains important to deliberately live as someone set a part. All are born with the same natural instinct to sin, but when we believe that Jesus became the final sacrifice for our sins and we confess and ask Him for forgive, we become a new creation and we chose to be different than the world around us. Where there is hate, we chose love. Where there is fear, we lead with faith. Where there is despair we lavish hope. We are different because we are forgiven and we are God’s children.
Happy Wednesday,
Gretchen