Keeping myself

Joshua 6:18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction.

God’s command to Joshua and the children of Israel was to not leave anything that lived and breathed when they took over the Promised Land because of their vulnerability to being led astray from God and His Word of commandment for a pure and holy life.  From the remaining part of this verse we know that to leave anything would bring trouble to them.  God knew how easily the people could be led astray.  As I read this verse this morning I was reminded that I too must keep myself from anything that is a part of the sinful world that might lead me astray in my walk with God.   In the words of the Apostle John, I must not love the world, neither things of the world because if I do love the world, the love of the Father is not in me.  This was true for Joshua and his time, and it is true for me in my time. 

Vindication

Ezekiel 36:23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name … and the nations will know that I am the Lord when I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

 I looked up the word “vindicate” in the dictionary because it is not a word we use very often in our daily language and I am glad I did so because it gave me much more food for thought as I meditated on this verse.  To vindicate means to clear, as from an accusation, to justify, or to defend against opposition, or to assert one’s right to a possession.  What great understanding as to what God is telling His people here!  He is accused, even in our day, of being an unloving or harsh dictator and His goal is to clear His name from such an accusation by saving people from sin and wickedness.  By His powerful actions of salvation and provision and His miraculous ways of rescuing people from spiritual and physical danger He is defending Himself to man and to Satan, and He is asserting His right to His children and to His holy name.  When I see God at work in my own life or in the lives of those around me, I am seeing God vindicate His great name.  And when I reach heaven, whether at death or at Jesus’ Second Coming, God will have vindicated His holiness completely, without question, for eternity.  And, as Ezekiel reminds us in just about every chapter of the book at least one time, then the nations will know that He is the Lord.  He has done, is doing, and will continue to do everything He can to convince people to worship Him and Him alone.

I am God's treasured possession

Deuteronomy 14:2b Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

This verse is found in the middle of regulations concerned with clean and unclean foods and activities.  It seemed a little bit out of place until I began to realize how intertwined the two concepts are.  Because the people were chosen, treasured possessions of a holy God, they should do all possible to remain holy, thus all the special regulations.  Likewise, they would do everything possible to be clean and holy because they were God’s chosen, treasured possessions.  I should be holy because I am the Lord’s possession, but I am also made holy by the same.   My lifestyle, my actions, should always enhance that truth while that same lifestyle and those same actions will be the result of that truth as well.  I am His treasured possession, chosen to be so.

God with a Capital G

Leviticus 22:32b-33 I am the Lord, who made you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.  I am the Lord.

The word “lord” means “master, or ruler”.  God reminded the Israelites of Who He is both before and after His statement of His purpose, so I think this must have been an important piece of information He was giving them!  Why did He make them holy?  To be their God.  Why did He bring them out of slavery in Egypt?  To be their God,  “God”, with a capital G … not just something or someone admired as superhuman, but THE Supreme Being, THE Creator, and THE Ruler of the universe.  His purpose in saving me is to have His rightful place/position in my life, to free me from the effects of slavery to sin, and to make me holy in His sight.  He is my Lord.

Becoming holy

I am still working my way through the book of Leviticus, in case you hadn't noticed!

Leviticus 11:44 …consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy.

I usually think of my holiness as something that only God can create in me, and in one sense that is true because I cannot work myself into a state of holiness.  But there is another sense in which it is my responsibility.  If I am not dedicated, i.e., consecrated, within my own spirit to be holy, then God cannot, and will not, make me holy.  This verse says the people had to make the first move toward being holy by obeying God’s commands, by consecrating themselves.  As I move towards being holy by determining that this is what I want God to do in me, God completes holiness in me.  I have to make the first move, and the older I get the more I recognize my need to remind myself of this every morning by praying and asking the holy Lord God to work His holiness into me.