July 4, 2022

Leviticus 18: 1-3 (NIV)

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.’”

If your Christianity doesn’t make you look different, what makes you think your neighbors will notice?*

I have a Filipino friend who told me of an event she attended and how uncomfortable she felt there. She had to clarify for me that she felt conspicuous because of her obvious ethnicity amid a crowd of “white” people. It shocked me to realize how oblivious I was to how it feels to be different. Racially and culturally, I have very seldom found myself to be a minority in the crowd; as a Christian, however, I should be familiar with what it feels like to stand out from the herd.

In these verses in Leviticus, and in many other passages, God reminds his people that they are not to blend in with the people around them. God’s people then and now are to contrast vividly with the rest of the world’s population. Here, he tells them not to do as the Egyptians did in the land they had come from nor as the Canaanites did in the land he had brought them to. We should note that not everything these people did was evil - there was more to them than just their religion - but their societies were permeated with customs and behaviors that no child of God should tolerate. And yet, exposure leads to tolerance and compromise.

In the King James Version, Deuteronomy 14: 2 and 26: 18, Titus 2: 14, and I Peter 2: 9, speak of God’s people as “peculiar.” Newer translations describe us as “belonging to God.” I don’t know if the newer versions are more accurate or if we just don’t like being thought of us peculiar, but I’m thinking we would make a stronger statement in today’s culture if we were a little more comfortable with being looked at as peculiar. Maybe we are true to our faith in the worship service but do we stand out from the world when we’re out in it? Is there anything that distinguishes us from the land of Canaan?

If the Enemy cannot destroy the believers through open conflict, he will dilute them through subtle compromise.*