Glory to God! I believe that the Lord has been good to us during the past week and He has blessed us with another week to live our life on earth in order to have fellowship with Him (Genesis 3:8; John 17:20-24; 1 John 1:3; Revelation 21:3). The Lord loves us and care for us as He created us in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6b; Colossians 3:10). According to Apostle Paul, we are created to be like God, as it is mentioned: … to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24). It was God’s desire for us to stay the way we were created (that is, holy and righteous) ever since humanity was created. However, we failed Him by disobeying His commands and kept on sinning against Him through our words and deeds. He created us in His image and likeness because He wanted to have fellowship with us; He wanted to love and care for us; He wanted to impart His power and authority to us and appoint us to care for the rest of His creation; and so on. In return, we can also love Him, worship Him, serve Him, and be with Him as His children for ever and ever in eternity.

The Lord has blessed us with a very resolute Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from Leviticus 22:31-33. This passage is part of God’s overall instructions He gave to the Israelites as He redeemed and delivered them from their bondage in Egypt and its ruler Pharaoh through His servant Moses. The prime reason the Lord God instructed His righteous laws and decrees and commands to the Israelites through His servant Moses (Leviticus 26:46; Deuteronomy 4:5; 6:1; 30:16; 1 Kings 2:3; Nehemiah 9:13-14) was that though the Israelites worshipped Yahweh, the God of their ancestors [like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob] and the twelve patriarchs [the sons of Jacob / Genesis 35:23-26; 1 Chronicles 2:1-2], and followed His sacred instructions and commands that were given to them through certain individuals He chose [most probably the heads of the families or others who are chosen for the purpose], they followed the customs and social and cultural and religious practices of the Egyptians, which were utterly against the righteous laws and decrees and commands He gave to them while they were in Egypt. God does not care about how those who do not acknowledge the Lordship of the Lord God Almighty live, but He cares for those who are called by Him ought to live because if those who are chosen by Him fail to keep His righteous laws and decrees and commands He has given them but live their life similar to the people who do not acknowledge the Lordship of the Lord God, it would bring bad reputation to His holy and righteous name. Thus, God sternly warns the Israelites who are chosen by Him not to profane His name among those who do not acknowledge His Lordship over their lives. Such attitudes are not only seen among the Old Testament chosen people but also seen among the New Testament believers, especially  those believers who are called by Christ and failed to keep up with His or His apostles teachings. This was the reason Apostle Paul quoted while writing to the believers in Rome that God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you (Romans 2:24).

God, being holy and righteous, wants to be the Lord and Savior and Redeemer and Protector and Provider and Master of His chosen people then and now and forever. In order to be so, they need to accept His Lordship in their life and be holy and righteous in everything they say and do. This was the reason the Lord kept on instilling in them that He is the Lord their God, saying: I am the Lord and keep my commands and follow them (refer to Leviticus 22:31-33):

• • I am the Lord (22:31)
  • I am the Lord (22:32)
  • I am the Lord (22:33)

Time to time, the Lord God was urging the Israelites (past and present) and to us today to accept His Lordship in their [our] life and obey His righteous laws and decrees and commands for their [our] own good (Deuteronomy 10:13) as He is Sovereign in everything He says and does and has the final word in the universe. Accepting His lead at the helm of our life brings peace and prosperity as well as security and safety in our lives because God, being our Creator, knows what can bring peace, prosperity, protection, and providence in our life. Obeying the Lord’s commands and following the Lord Himself is what empowers us to live a fruitful life in the world as God wants us [His chosen ones] to know Him, love Him, and obey Him so that we can glorify and honor Him in and through our life, which includes our family, friends, community, nation, and ultimately the world where we live now.

Dear friends, as the Lord has enabled us to meditate upon His Word, particularly on Leviticus 22:31-33, let us accept His invitation to acknowledge Him as the Lord and Savior of our life and exalt His name among our family and friends and be grateful to Him for His goodness and love and mercy and kindness and justice and faithfulness He has been having towards us. In fact, we are chosen and called by Him to love and serve Him by obeying His righteous laws and decrees and commands as He is the Lord God Almighty who created us in His like and image. Though God was originally giving the instructions that are mentioned in Leviticus 22:31-33 to the children of Israel, it is very much applicable to anyone who is chosen by Him for His purpose – it does not matter whether they lived in the beginning of human era or we who are living in the present age or those who are going to live in the end of the human era, it is applicable to everyone every time. Therefore, as His chosen people, let us rededicate our lives once again to love the Lord God Almighty wholeheartedly and obey His commands in its entirety. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!