Crocs and Holiness

I just came back from a week in Florida. While we were there we traveled up to St Augustine and visited the crocodile preserve. It was fascinating to be able to observe them without the worry of losing a leg! I thought about the crocodiles again as I read this morning's scripture. The book of Leviticus is full of regulations that God put in place for the developing nation of Israel. Chapter 11 has to do with the kinds of animals and birds that the Hebrews were allowed to eat. I suspect crocodiles were among the prohibited. When the chapter ends, Moses records this: "You must distinguish between the clean and the unclean…" (11:47, NIV).

This phrase is repeated in other parts of the Old Testament in relation to how God is to be worshiped. In Chapter 10, it is repeated again after the Aaron's sons had disobeyed a command God had given (10:1). Moses writes: "You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses" (10:10, 11, NIV).

It takes a person who walks closely with God to distinguish "between the holy and the common." Sometimes the lines get blurred and we approach God and His commands haphazardly and without due respect. Our quest to be relevant to the world sometimes causes us to be irrelevant to God. Our intentions are good—we want to connect people to God but end up disconnecting them to Him because we have not taken the time to distinguish between what brings Him glory and what doesn't.

The prayer for today—and tomorrow—is that God give us discerning minds to recognize the difference between the holy and the common and the heart to choose correctly.