I Am the Lord your God

Lev. 18:4-5

"You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them.  I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord."

There is a decided correlation between God, His rules and His people. The basis for this command and the following compulsory obedience comes from the fact that God is their God. His people belong to Him by right of creation, deliverance, and atonement. Likewise, I am God's child. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  As a child of God I am His possession by right of creation, deliverance, atonement, and redemption. My redemption came at the cost of the blood of the Son of God. He became my substitutionary sacrifice making my life possible because of His blood. "For it is the blood that makes the atonement by the life."

Why obey these rules and statutues of God? In Lev. much of it was protection from the evil that was in the land. God did not want His people to be like these wicked people. They were not to be assimilated but expelled. Similarly, I am not to love the world or the things in it. However, distancing myself from the Word increases my desires to be worldly, but saturation in and obedience to the word protects me from the evil of this world. Jesus Himself said "These things I have spoken to you that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be full." Not only does obedience protect me, but it gives me joy. Obedience helps me walk in the Spirit and reflect the holiness of God. Obedience makes a way for me to be in close communion with my heavenly Father, the one who sacrificed His son for me. Obedience is the way for me to delight in and bring glory to the One who loved me first. Is my heart always obedient? Do I live like a child of God who is His possession? What is my attitude and emotional state toward the world and all that it comprises?

Father,

Convict me of whatever is in my life that is obstructing my obedience. I want to be Your possession, one that brings glory to Your name.

In Jesus name,

Amen