Living God’s Way

Leviticus 11:44–45: “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

God told His people to sanctify themselves, to set aside their lives. He commanded “you shall be holy; for I am holy.” There are many details given here and in the chapters ahead, precise details regarding sacrifices, rituals, diet, and even clothing and cooking. All the Hebrews understood was that they were being taught to obey God in every, seemingly, mundane area of life. But He was actually teaching them, using clean and unclean distinctions, how to be holy, how to be separate from, or live differently than, the idolatrous nations around them. He was saying in a broad sense that His people must learn to live His way.

In this verse we see the first of fifty times the phrase, “I am the Lord your God,” is used in the Old Testament. It was because the Lord was their God that they were to be different, that they were to be separate and holy. And it was through these laws that their outward behaviors showed that difference. But the outward behavior was only a reflection, or even an outpouring, of what the internal should be, a personal holiness of the heart. They were to be separated from sin in their hearts.

God points to holiness again and again throughout the book of Leviticus. What He was teaching His people in Leviticus is still true for us today. He is holy; therefore, we need to be holy. But what can we do, we are not holy? Our only hope rests on the great exchange—Jesus exchanged His life for ours. And the result of Him living in us is a new heart, a heart separated to Him. We find ourselves desiring to be holy and to do the right thing because He is in us.

“LORD, we want to be holy but we fail so often. Change our hearts more, LORD. Make us like You.”