Day 3 I AM the Righteous God “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the L .” —Levi cus 18:5
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istorically, in many parts of the country, churches were the centers of their communi es. Family life was structured around their churches’ mes of worship, study, and prayer, and of opportuni es to fellowship together. Churches impacted their communi es to such a point that the south was known as the Bible Belt. Those days are long past. Churches today, not just in the south, now face cultural struggles from outside. As many churches’ a endance declines, they are le trying to figure out how to impact the na onal and cultural conversa ons from a Chris an worldview. Read Levi cus 18:1–5. In Levi cus, God stressed what the culture of the people of Israel was to be. He reminded the people that they were not to take the culture and the beliefs of the Egyp ans into the Promised Land. Even though they had lived in that culture for their en re lives, the people were expected to live by God’s standards. God also informed the people that they were not to take on the culture and the beliefs of the people who already lived in the Promised Land. Sadly, much of the Old Testament deals with the Israelites’ inability to stay apart from the pagan religious culture in Israel. Why was God so determined that His people should live by His standards? Because God is a righteous God––He cannot abide unrighteousness. God hates evil and He hates disobedience. He hates seeing how people’s lives and families can be destroyed through unrighteous living. It is because He is righteous that He wants His people to live righteous lives. We become righteous through God’s redemp on. It’s not something that we can achieve on our own. It comes from God and is a reflec on of who He is. Because we have been made righteous in Christ, God expects us to live in a way that is di erent from those who are unbelievers. And by doing so, we allow others to see the very character of God lived out in our lives.
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