Leviticus can be a difficult book to read because it includes so many tedious details that eventually cause us to skip over those chapters to the "good parts" that are more interesting. Chapters 13 and 14 are long chapters that are devoted to what to do in the event of a skin disease, mold, or bodily discharges. For example, here is a portion of the instruction for someone with a skin disease:
The Lord said to Moses, “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease . . . The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair; they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean" (Leviticus 14:1-4, 8-9).
Again, our purpose is not to examine the meaning or symbolism in what is written but to discover lessons that can make us more purposeful and creative. In this case, we should be grateful that Christ set us free from having to pay attention to and being consumed by rules and regulations that could never satisfy God or be good enough for our freedom or cleansing. Peter summed it up succinctly when he wrote,
" . . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19, ESV emphasis added).
We have been set free from a futile lifestyle and worship not so we can do as we please, but to invest our time in purposeful activities instead of religious ones. In his second letter, Peter wrote, "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:8). Simply stated, God expects you to be productive in your freedom in Him. Are you productive and effective in your knowledge of Him? What fruit can you point to that proves you are productive? What can you do to bear even more fruit now that you are free to serve and express who you are?
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