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Leviticus 18: 24 (NIV)
“Do not defile yourselves in any of
these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before
you became defiled.”
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| Evil . . . has damaged our relationships with God, self, each other and the earth.* |
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Leviticus
chapter 18 contains a long list of forbidden sexual practices. These sins – and
any other sinful lifestyle – corrupt individuals and eventually the nation;
incur the wrath of God; and seal our doom. With his prohibitions and warnings,
God gave the children of Israel the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of
their new neighbors in the land of Canaan. He was teaching them to be
reflections of his uniqueness and holiness.
As someone has observed, “Some things are immoral and unclean in themselves for all persons at all times.”* The laws addressed in this
chapter are of a moral nature rather than ceremonial and we can find them
restated and updated in the New Testament. As Christians we are called to
distinguish ourselves from the world, just as the Israelites were to stand out
from the people around them.
For several decades, we in America have been sliding inexorably down that slippery slope of depravity. Could it be that we have become the modern equivalent of
Canaan? Is God even now preparing a tribe to invade us and cleanse our land? It
may be too late for our nation to be spared from God’s judgment but there is
still time for individuals to repent and walk in holiness.
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| We cannot treat as acceptable what God has prohibited.* |
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