Good morning, friends,
Once again, this weekly email is an effort to keep us all heading the same direction, eyes fixed on Christ, as we serve our great God.

I’ve been in Leviticus in my quiet times, and this morning I was reading chapters 19-22. There is a clear theme that God reiterates over and over. See if you can pick it up:

Lev. 19:2 – “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
20:7-8 – “‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”
20:26 – “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”
22:31-32 – “Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.”
And if that wasn’t enough, in chapter 19, verses 9-37, after nearly each paragraph, God repeats twelve times, “I am the Lord.” 

Clearly, he’s trying to get our attention and tell us something important. The bottom line is that in the midst of all the commands God has for us, we obey because that is who we are, who we were made to be, and who God is in the process of making us to be. We are holy, set apart, consecrated, reserved for the Lord.

How? Because God is making us this way. We choose to be holy as God makes us holy.
Why? Because God is holy. Because God is Lord, and there is no other. Because we belong to Him, not to ourselves, not to our culture, not to anything other than the Lord.

Friends, in a world competing for your allegiance, remember that the Lord is God, and there is no other. May our lives reflect this all-important truth. May the choices we make point people to the holiness of God as we show that God is working in us. None of us have arrived, but day by day we’re moving closer to our holy God. As Moses’ face glowed after being in God’s presence, may our faces glow with the radiance of the One we love, the One we worship, the One who makes us holy.

This week, and beyond, let’s praise God for being God, for being holy, for faithfully working at making us holy. Today, confess anything in your life that does not reflect the holiness and consecration God calls us to, and allow Him to have His way in you.
 
Pressing on by God’s grace,
Eric