Going Old School: Living a Good Life

Moving right along in Leviticus, we’ve learned that God wants us to live a good life, a life that reflects Him to the world and will ultimately make us happier.  In Leviticus 18, God gave the people a detailed list of inappropriate sexual practices.  Such practices destroy individuals’ self-worth and split families apart, neither of which God wants.  In Leviticus 19, God tells His people (which still includes us today) about how to live a holy life in Him.

The Apostle Peter gives us something to remember as we go about our daily lives in I Peter 1:14-16:

¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

While many might consider Peter’s words to the church as something he thought of during his walk with Jesus, Peter is echoing something he heard often times as a Jewish man because God is the one who originally gave that advice to all of us.  Peter is quoting Leviticus 19:2 where God calls His people to live better lives in Him.  The words God gave us through Moses that Peter reiterates still hold true for followers of God!  Let’s take a look at some of the instructions God gives us for living a holy and fulfilling life.

In Leviticus 19:9-10, God gives the people a very strange instruction.  When the Israelites harvested their fields, they were instructed to leave the grain along the edges of the field alone and not pick up any grain that the harvesters dropped.    Why would God give that seemingly bizarre instruction?  God was putting a protection for the poor and traveling foreigners because it showed His generosity to the less fortunate (God, after all, is the ultimate owner of the land).  The Israelites were reflecting God’s character in their actions, and the people of the world would know what a loving and generous God the Israelites served.  Later in the Bible, Ruth the Moabite and Naomi, a widow, would benefit from this very instruction (Ruth 2:2).

Throughout the Bible, God calls His people to provide for those in need.  How often do we ignore the poor (out of sight, out of mind) or forget about the less fortunate (“he’ll just by booze if I give him money”)?  The God whom we claim to serve shows great generosity, so as His Followes, shouldn’t we?

Leviticus 19:10-35 seems like a bunch of “Don’ts” and many people avoid Leviticus as a whole because of lists like these.  Don’t rob, don’t pick on the handicapped, don’t hold a grudge, don’t practice astrology, don’t neglect the elderly, etc.  It just seems like so much, isn’t there just a quick summation of it all we could live by?  I can’t remember all the rules!  Fortunately, Jesus did give us just such a summation (Matt. 22:34-40): “Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  When we endeavor to live our lives as Jesus instructed, we will naturally be following all of God’s “don’ts” in Leviticus.  If you love your neighbor, will you rob or steal from him?  If you love your God, would you ever do anything to disrespect Him or hurt Him?

Near the end of the chapter, God talks about an issue that was as hot a topic for the Israelites in the wilderness as it is for us today: immigrants.  In Leviticus 19:33-34, God commands the people to treat these foreigners as equals; with the same respect they would show a fellow Hebrew.  To God, a foreigner is just as much our neighbor as our actual neighbor, and since we are to love our neighbors, that includes foreigners.  The truth of it is we’re all “foreigners” in the world until God comes to take us home.  Why shouldn’t we view strangers, newcomers, immigrant, and foreigners not as pesky “invaders” but as an opportunity to show God’s love?

In closing, take a moment and reflect on these words of Jesus:

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

encounter: Do you endeavor to live the life God calls you too?