SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 14
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” [Deuteronomy 14:2] The underlying assumption behind all of Moses’ Law is that Israel was God’s specially chosen, specially loved, specially blessed people – with a very important calling. They were set aside by God to convey His blessings to the world. The word holy means ‘set apart’: they were set apart from sin, for God, for the world! The Law then designates specific practices and rituals to highlight that special status and calling – eating only clean meat, and tithing.
The question is, are these eternal laws or specific practices tied to the status and calling of Israel? In terms of the clean and unclean distinction, we know with certainty that these are not eternal, but for Israel. Mark makes an interesting observation based on Jesus teaching: “’Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.’” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)” [Mark 7:18-19] As for tithing, it is nowhere reaffirmed by Jesus or the apostles as an enduring practice. Jesus’ reference to tithing [Luke 11:42] is not a declaration that all must tithe, but a specific reminder to the Pharisees (who lived under the Law) that they should have practiced followed the true intent of Moses’ Law.
The point behind these specific practices and rituals in Moses’ Law was to make a point: ‘You are to live differently, You are to think and act like my specially loved, specially chosen, specially called people. Don’t live like everyone else, live like Me, live for Me!’ It’s not that some meat is eternally unclean, or that only 10% belongs to God and the rest is ours to keep. Everything created by God is good; everything belongs to God!
I need to drill into my head and heart that I am God’s treasured possession, His much-loved child. I need to think and choose and love and speak in a way that reflects this. This is my special identity. Although I do not have to follow the specific practices or rituals of Moses’ Law, I do not to behave in a way that demonstrates my special status and calling. It will affect how I eat, it will affect how I handle money. It will affect much more…
PRAYER:
Lord, I forget so quickly who I am, and why You loved and saved me. Impress on me again my identity and purpose, and enable me to live accordingly.