Bible In One Year-Day 47 (Sunday, February 16, 2014)

Commentary: Lev17-19. The book of Leviticus we are reading is a major book in the books of the law. We just completed Lev17-19 and a good understanding of it is that the particular subject in the message is love between one another. The word LOVE is deep. Many have given it different definitions and meanings and, I must confess, they are still doing that. Whatever definition given to love, the understanding is the core thing. The way you describe a good meal is not as memorable as the taste of it. Love is more than description; it is about experience. Apart from my experience of the sight of Jesus, I had sat with a lot who had the vision of Jesus; there is an unusual aura that radiates round our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That aura is an unusual LOVE that penetrates you and melts your being to weaken the knee and, in most cases, you condemn yourself before Him. Peter said “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” Lk5:8; he could not stand Christ’s glory. When you come in contact with that glory, your subsequent sinful actions makes your conscience to raise alarms and you become uncomfortable. The mistake many make is that they run away from making the correction. And in doing this, they try to bribe the conscience with excuses. We discussed this when we were reading about Jacob. After 20 years, Jacob’s conscience still cried even after God had blessed him. We need to be careful about this aspect of our life; it can cage one for as long as such refuses to make correction. Correction to the cry of the conscience is mostly through restitution. Restitution might not be in terms of returning stolen items only, the three worded statement “I am sorry” is enough in most cases. That simple sentence is very powerful, even more than all available excuses. The trials of those who had met Jesus are more than what they could bargain for; it usually seems, a times, as if the whole world is against them. This is part of the training as a soldier of Christ. You might even think of giving up a times; NO!!! Don’t do that. It is after you have gone through these that you become a vessel unto honor (useful to the dying soul and the hopeless). Lev17 tells us that killing of any animal for any reason without bringing it to the door of the tabernacle amounts to sin. One of the wisdom obtainable in this is that whatever you do should be to the glory of God; celebrations, feastings etc. If this was not done, it means the person did it only to satisfy flesh and demons of where they left (Egypt or the world). If the attributes of your past is still evident in your present Christian life and you are not making effort to deal with it, it may make your worship to the Lord become a sin. Anger, pride, cheating, hatred, envy, complacency, untamed tongue, impatience, name it, are hindrances to spiritual progress. You must praise God with your substance. Your relationship with people shows how soaked you are in God and how much the Holy Spirit has worked on you. I am not talking about righteous appearance (which matters also) but more importantly about righteous reflection (from within). To help the definition of love to some extent, Lev18 expounded a little bit by talking about sexual relationship so that we don’t take unholy love to mean love. When God created things, the bible says they looked beautiful and in order. The truth is that they function as good and in the way God intended it to be. Man brought perversion to distort what was good. Woman was created from the rib of man as a woman companion, not a ‘man companion’. They law of the land could give you a right to stand by your opinion or insanity, but as far a God is concerned, it is detestable, disgusting, strongly disapproved and an abomination, Lev18:22-23. Homosexuality and bestiality are abominations to the Lord and it is demonic. Agreement with this is giving the demon a right, that is, PIG IN A PARLOR, Lev17:7 (the right thing in the place). Those who practice it are not condemned but the act is against God’s purpose of creation. They should be corrected in love and more impotantly, prayerfully. When we use prayer, it kills the evil desire of misplacement of sexual judgment and gives them the right mind of affection for the opposite sex just as the Lord intended from the beginning; DELIVERANCE. It is good to read Lev19 understandingly and with reflection because more emphases are on how we relate with one another. Prayer: O Lord, let Your word explode in me with the fire in it in the name of Jesus. Next mile on the trip is Lev20-22. Keep the fire burning and alive. Never stop until His coming.