Today’s Reading Leviticus 8-10
Focal Scripture: Leviticus 10:10-11 “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean, adn teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses.”
Here we see a beautiful representation of what it means to be a priest for the Lord. First, we see how the priests are to be seperated and even go through a ceremonial process that deals with their sin. God is expecting the priests to not be like everyone else. They dress different, have different tasks, and should always be sacrificing to the Lord on their own behalf and for the people.
Here God is given the priests expectations for how they should approach the tent of meeting. He explains what they can drink and what they should eat before they enter God’s presence. God expects these priests to distinguish between what is holy and what is normal, what is clean and what is unclean, and then teach the people what these differences are, daily.
The application for this is anyone who desires to be serve the Lord today must be separate and holy. Whether you are serving the Lord as a vocation or if you are volunteering the the local church. The leaders of the church are not to be like the world. According to the Malphurs group it is estimated that 40% of churches have leaders that are toxic. Which is even a higher percentage than the secular world.
This toxic environment is created by micromanagement, verbal abuse, gossip, and condescending remarks privately and from the pulpit. You may be asking what does this have to do with today’s verse? Answer is everything! Just as God was looking for priests who were called out and separate he had a high standard of how those priests should handle themselves amongst the people. We see in this chapter when Aaron’s sons brought a sacrifice and had the wrong fire they were killed.
My heart today is that if you are seeking leadership and are called by God that you don’t lead like the world. You don’t get your insights from ungodly people. Yes, at times you might be able to glean some aspect of leadership from a secular source but the ultimate source is from the Bible. Hear what the focal verse is saying today. Then apply it!
Be uncommon. Be clean. Teach the people what the difference is and demonstrate it by how the called out ones talk, live, love, speak, and serve. No leader is perfect but every leader should treat others well. Especially if they are serving the Lord.
Tomorrow I plan on reading Leviticus 11-13
