- Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean. Leviticus 18:24 – This chapter is our best way to understand God’s definition of sexual immorality. Meaning when we read in the New Testament about how Christians are to abstain from sexual immorality, know the writers and Apostles would have been thinking back to God’s definition here in Leviticus 18 for their understanding of what sexual immorality was. While we won’t go into the whole list, note some of the laws God gave on what was unacceptable sexual practices. Don’t have sex with you mom or your sister, Don’t have sex with you aunt, or daughter, or daughter-in-law. Don’t have sex with animals, or those of the same sex as you, and don’t sacrifice your kids to idols. What’s even more insane is that all these were normal practices in the cultures around Israel. God, seeking to have His people distinct, called them to handle sex very differently than the world around them. While yes, we are under the new covenant, and we aren’t forced to follow the law anymore, God’s commands in the new covenant to abstain from sexual immorality means we are to hear what God says in this chapter as His views on what’s acceptable when it comes to sexual relations. Our world today is much like the world in the day of the Israelites. Anything is seemingly acceptable, and the ways that aren’t currently accepted by the world today will likely be accepted in the future. In a world then that handles sex in such a detestable way to the Lord, choose to be holy. Choose to handle it in a way that is honoring and pleasing to the Lord, even when the world around you is pushing you to compromise. There is a right way to handle these things, and it’s following the Lord’s direction. Be wise to not go the world’s direction or just what feels right to you. God’s way is better. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3220
- Leviticus 18 Daily DEVO So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus18:30 – You must be willing to follow all of God’s directions, not just the ones you want to follow. Here God has listed off a long list of ways of how sex shouldn’t be handled. God said don’t sleep with animals, ok we support that rule. God said don’t sleep with your granddaughter, ok we better support that one. God said a man shouldn’t sleep with a man as he would a woman. Suddenly a growing portion of the church is opposed to that rule. We must remember God’s in charge, not us. If He’s our Lord He sets the rules for our life. You can’t be the one who picks and chooses what’s right and wrong in God’s eyes. Yes, I understand, after Jesus our relationship to the Levitical law has changed, but what we learn from it is what is detestable to God and what isn’t. And things like homosexuality are talked about far more times than just here in scripture. What we must understand is homosexuality is a sin and their is no way around that. The church must though be the most loving people to those struggling with this sin. So if someone who identifies as homosexual is reading this you need to know I love you and want the best for you in life. I though have personally seen how deadly sin can be and if I believe that homosexuality is a sin and I believe sin hurts and kills people, it would be such a hatful thing for me to not let you know how deadly staying in this sin can be. Know I’m praying for you and am here. If you’re a Christian who isn’t battling with this sin I pray you’re ready to love people struggling with sin rather than casting your hate on them like our enemy wants us to do. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac -Daily DEVO 900
- Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 18:2-4 – You follow me. That’s the command we’re getting loud and clear from God in this passage. You don’t do as the people in Egypt do and you don’t do as the people of Canaan do. You follow me. What’s so sad is how as we read through the following verses about all these sinful ways to handle sex, we learn the reason why God points these out is because the people in Egypt and Canaan did all this. Sex with your mother, your grandkids, with your animals, and with your daughters was common place for them. Imagine the damage such things were causing within their families and communities. As a result God said follow me, don’t follow their lead. God saw everything that was happening with those people and saw every hurt it brought. He then wanted something different for the people who chose to follow Him. He wants something different for you too. Yes, God is calling you to live different than the non-followers of Jesus at your work or school or in your community. Not because He finds joy in keeping pleasures from you, but He has seen over thousands of years and thousands of examples of people who choose sin and how that works out for them. Because He loves you, He wants a different story for you than that. Follow Jesus’ lead then today. Not the lead of the people around you or what culture says is good, but the lead of the God who loves you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1941
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