16 December 2003 00:32
Leviticus 19:far above and beyond anything my favorite chapter of leviticus. i'm going to take you through it verse by verse, because some of these commands we need to follow, and others we don't (obviously).
v1 okay, so maybe some of the verses can be grouped together.
v2 "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." i swallow hard everytime i read that. your parents have told you as a child, "do it because I told you to do it!" yeah, this is it, but on a much more terrifying scale. there's really not much more prattling i can do about it.
v3a respect my parents, unless they're not worth respecting. wait, i'm not finding that in here. i'm sure it's in here somewhere. --this is something that's very hard for me, the idea of respecting somebody who doesn't deserve it. when i meet someone new, especially someone older, there is a time of waiting as i watch them to see whether they are worth respecting. for example, take two men i met recently at a church i started going to. i have respect for both of them because they are older christian brothers, but the one i respect more than the other because i have observed him taking an active part in the church, i have talked with him and listened to what he has said and found him to be wiser in the ways of life than i, so he has earned my respect. it wasn't hard for him to do it, becuase i started with a blank slate. for the other man to reach an equal amount of respect, it will be harder for him, because in the time i have known him, he hasn't participated much in the church, and he hasn't spoken or led in a manner that gathered my respect. that said, since i still know him very little, it would take but a few positive encounters to change my viewpoint.
now there are a few people i know who are older than me, but i have very little respect for them. i am respectful to them, but they probably wouldn't have to push to hard to find me bordering on disrespect. now i was brought up to not be disrespectful. but a lack of respect is not necessarily the same as being disrespectful.. i digress. let me put it succinctly, respecting bad parents would be extremely difficult for me. this is one of a multitude of reasons i am glad for the parents i have. but i believe it is still God's will for children to maintain a respect even for "bad" parents. likewise, all are to have respect for the government we live under. this does not mean we follow commands that are against the Bible. I have heard accounts of people who respected their parents despite the shortcomings of those parents, and God blessed them for it.
this is the second law in this chapter. is that of significance?
v3b observe my sabbaths. i will save this for later, i am laying up a store of thoughts on the subject of the day of rest.. i will assail you with them at some later date.
v3c I am the Lord your God. as if there were any doubt by this point. but he has the reinforcment here for a reason.
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