Holiness for Fellowship

In Leviticus 11, after a long list of unclean animals that Israel may not eat and clean animals that they are allowed to eat , God tells His people,

"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." v.45

The message is clear: God brought His people out of captivity so that He could be their God. His purpose was a covenant relationship with His freed people. BUT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN they must be HOLY. Why? Because HE is holy.

We learn:

• God is the DELIVERER. It is HE who sets us free from our Eygptian captivity to sin and idols. HE does it. He might use teachers or books or seminars or fasting or a long, desperate time of prayer but ultimately HE is the deliverer. "I am the Lord who brought you...out of..." If you find yourself still drawn to bow at the shrine of pleasure or appetite or an ungodly relationship or the menacing god of bitterness and unforgiveness, CRY to the LORD who brings His people out. He did it for 2,000,000 mud-squishing slaves under the military might of Egypt. He does it today for all who call upon Him in a desperate faith.
• God delivers us from bondage to sin for RELATIONSHIP. We can easily lose sight of the relational purpose of God in our deliverance. We can settle into a "gotta check the boxes" Christianity where we labor under the stern, watching, easily-displeased eyes of God in heaven and forget that this LORD is my FATHER in HEAVEN! What a loving Father He is. Have you forgotten the infinite extent of His love? Look to the CROSS and look to the bloody, tortured form hanging there, nailed to the cross bearing YOUR SIN (Colossians 2:13-15). There the love of God was proven once and for all forever. Realize that every embrace of an idol is an adulterous liaison before the very eyes of your Father. Let His redeeming you for relationship draw you back into His arms. Turn from the empty trysts into the everlasting arms.
• To live in this love relationship with our redeeming Father, we must be HOLY. And we must be HOLY because HE IS HOLY. God will not, God cannot become less than God in order to walk with us. HE is eternally and infinitely and immutably holy. He cannot become what He is not. WE, however, can and must become what we were not so that we can walk with Him. We must cleanse our hands and our hearts. We must separate from what is unclean. I cannot link my left arm in God's right arm while I carry my favorite idol in my right arm. How do I know what is unclean? His WORD! His LAW! Just as God gave detailed dietary laws to emphasize the need for holiness amongst Israel and to draw distinct lines between the holy and the common, so He gives His commands and principles to us to define the holy life that can walk with the holy God in loving relationship. So God's Word tells us: it is His will for us to be PURE (1 Thessalonians 4:3). It is His will for us to do all things without grumbling and complaining (Philippians 2:14). It is His will for us to be holy by praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It is His holy will for us to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13), and so on. We must strive for holiness or we will not walk in joyful, intimate, loving relationship with God.

How close is your walk with Him? Do you enjoy daily intimacy with Him? Is He your joy? Are there idols under your arm as you bemoan the lack of closeness with the LORD? Are you living in the light of the truth of His Word that you ALREADY know?

If you are a true disciple of Christ, He has redeemed you from the Egypt of sin and idolatry to be His and for Him to be yours. What a sacrificial love He has extended to you so that you could know Him up close and personal. Turn to the Father today and cry for restoration to His loving intimacy.

He will hear and He will answer.