Leviticus – Chapter 27

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons…Leviticus 27:2 – In this last chapter of Leviticus we see the Lord’s laws over vows that were made to Him. Essentially if someone possessed something, whether that be land, an animal, a house, or even a person, they could vow it to the Lord to be used for the Lord’s purpose. What most of the chapter works through is how one might redeem that item back if they wanted to. Of course they could just give the thing to the Lord and leave it there but say it was a useful animal they were vowing to the Lord. God gave them a way to honor Him with their vow by paying the amount of money set for such a sacrifice to Him instead of actually letting go of the useful animal. As believers in Jesus Christ today we must understand that our lives with Him don’t fall into this vowed category. There is no price we can pay to redeem our life back so we can use our lives however we want to. Our lives fall into the category of things devoted to the Lord spoken of in verse 28. When we choose to follow Jesus our lives are being devoted to the Lord with the mindset that the entirety of us is being set aside for the sole purposes for God. How though may have we been handling our life with Lord like a vow and not a devoted thing? Are you doing good things and giving money to the church then thinking you’ve checked off your “God box” and now can use your life how you want to the rest of the week? That’s simply not how our life with God works, it’s about God having all of us all the time. Make space today to see how you may be seeking to take back some of your life to be used for your purposes instead of being devoted solely to God’s purposes. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3229

Leviticus 27 Daily DEVO These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. Leviticus 27:34 – Today we close our study of the book of Leviticus. While at first I was somewhat intimidated to step into it, God has had some very rich messages to share with us in these passages. What we must take to heart as we read this book is that God has a way of living for His people that is different than the way the rest of the world lives. There are things we as followers of God do, say, think, pursue, and believe that make no sense to the rest of the world but we’ve been directed by our God to live that way. You must ask yourself will you live as God leads or will your life be a copy of the life of someone who doesn’t know God? A true follower of God’s life will look dramatically different than the norm. How different than is your life? If God is the one setting the rules for your life, then your life will be different from the world. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 909

But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. Leviticus 27:28 – Imagine you make some amazing cookies and you tell me that you’ll save one back for me, just for me, and no one else can eat it. Later I come to grab that cookie but can’t find it. So I approach you and ask where the cookie is that you saved for me and you say you gave it away to someone else. Now we’re talking about a cookie which isn’t a big deal, but even with that example we see the wrongness of promising something to someone then giving it away to someone else. God is reminding us that whatever we dedicate to God is His and should be given to no one else. For those of us who have chosen to follow Him, we’ve dedicated our all to Him. Our time, our talents, our heart, our future, our focus, our life. Where so often the tension in our walk with God comes from is when we’ve given what we’ve dedicated to Him to something else. What then have you given your time to other than God? What has captivated your focus other than God? What has your talents been given to other than the purposes of God? All of you has been given as a holy offering to the Lord when you placed your faith in Him. Be sure what you have set aside for God you aren’t giving away to something or someone else. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1950