Contemplative Bible Reading

Leviticus 18:3 (New Living Translation)

3 So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

God is talking to the people. God tells them that they are different. They don’t act like the people around them act. They have a special purpose in God’s plans; they will behave differently.

“But everyone is doing it,” cried every teenager since the invention of the teenager in America in the 1940s.

“And if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?” replied every parent of every teenager.

No. You are different. You are set aside for a special purpose to serve God in a special manner. This is contrary to the human need to belong. This also abides by the human need to be unique or special.

Do we want to be special as God wants us to be special? Do we want to belong to the crowd when the crowd behaves in a detestable manner?

The answers are simple while sitting here in a coffee shop—nice and comfortable drinking a good cup of hot coffee. At other times, however, the answers aren’t so simple.

Please God, in these other times when I cannot accept the simplicity, help me. Help me in my unbelief.