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- Oct 26, 2007
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'For I [am] the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I [am] holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 'For I [am] the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I [am] holy. Leviticus 11:44-45 NKJV
The people of Israel had an obligation to know which mammals, sea creatures, birds, insects, and creatures that crawl on the ground would make them ceremonially unclean if they ate them, and which ones did not. Working your way through such a list in today’s culture may seem like a foreign concept, but this was the call for the believer to maintain holiness.
Jesus changed this. In Matthew 15:10-11 (NIV), He said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” So, if what a person eats or doesn’t eat has no bearing on his holiness, then what does?
“What springs from a corrupt unregenerate heart—a perverse will and impure passions—these defile, i.e. make him a sinner,” wrote Bible commentator Adam Clarke.
You will be engaged in the process of minding your heart for the rest of your life as you are careful about what you watch and think. Jesus makes you holy, but even so, you are responsible for your thoughts and actions.
Prayer: Lord, my earnest desire is to be holy as You are holy. Empower me to mind my heart today and every day.
The people of Israel had an obligation to know which mammals, sea creatures, birds, insects, and creatures that crawl on the ground would make them ceremonially unclean if they ate them, and which ones did not. Working your way through such a list in today’s culture may seem like a foreign concept, but this was the call for the believer to maintain holiness.
Jesus changed this. In Matthew 15:10-11 (NIV), He said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” So, if what a person eats or doesn’t eat has no bearing on his holiness, then what does?
“What springs from a corrupt unregenerate heart—a perverse will and impure passions—these defile, i.e. make him a sinner,” wrote Bible commentator Adam Clarke.
You will be engaged in the process of minding your heart for the rest of your life as you are careful about what you watch and think. Jesus makes you holy, but even so, you are responsible for your thoughts and actions.
Prayer: Lord, my earnest desire is to be holy as You are holy. Empower me to mind my heart today and every day.
