Consecrate Ourselves

"For I am the Lord your God.  You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy."

--Leviticus 11:44a  (NKJV)

From the daily Bible reading on February 23, 2013 of Psalm 38:1-12; Acts 7:30-8:3; Leviticus 11:20-13:23.

While they traveled in the wilderness, God, through Moses, gave the children of Israel very specific and detailed instructions for how they should live their lives from then on, what and how to sacrifice for the atonement of which sins, how to view diseases and illnesses, what to eat and what not to eat, how to be "clean" and avoid being made "unclean".  He reminded them that He is the Lord, their God, who delivered them out of their bondage in Egypt and will give to them a land of great richness.  He did all this just to be their one and only God.  He emphasizes to them to be holy because He is holy.

One definition of "holy" is to be spiritually pure, saintly, devout.  Now we know that man can never be completely pure until we are rejoined with God, because we are born into sin, live in sin, and will die in sin.  But we can certainly try our best to be be, we can emulate the saints and be devout in our every day practices.  We are sinners but can strive toward holiness in our walk through life.  We must consecrate ourselves, set ourselves apart and dedicate ourselves to the service of God and Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Dear God You are the Lord our God.  We want to please You, to be right with You, to be holy for You because You are holy, holy, holy.  We admit our flawed and sinful nature.  Please stand by our side as we try to set ourselves apart from the world and dedicate our very lives to Your service.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.