Leviticus Chapter 18:1-5 (NLT)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.
God warned the Israelites not to copy how the other nations lived. He intended them to be different and was giving them the instructions and decrees to guide them. He was not leaving them to flounder. Its easy to think that if a rule or decree is accepted by the majority of people that it must be okay. But that is not necessarily the case and we must always, if we are Christians, be careful to find out what God’s mind is on the matter. We are to follow the way that Jesus lived His life, and sometimes that might mean going against the flow. God’s decrees are not meant to be restrictive and hinder us. God told the Israelites that if they followed His decrees and regulations, they would find life through them. And that is just as true today as it was then.
When I was young and my mum had perhaps told me I couldn’t do something, or go somewhere, I would sometimes say, “well so and so is allowed to”, or “so and so’s mum said it’s OK”. My mum would always say that she wasn’t interested in so and so, she was only concerning herself about what was right for me in her eyes. I would also counter sometimes, “Well everyone else is doing it,” to which her reply would be, “Well if they all jumped into the Clyde would you follow them?”
The most important thing for us to do is to do what’s right in God’s eyes. His is the only approval we should be seeking.
Dear Lord,
Thank You that Your laws and decrees bring us life the way You intended. Help me to seek Your ways first, even if that means being in the minority. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.