Take Time to Be Holy - February 24 Readings: Leviticus 22:17-23:44, True Worship (Offerings, Feasts)

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:   Leviticus 22:17-23:44

Through the Bible Readings: Leviticus 26-27, Mark 4:1–20, Psalm 28:1–3, Proverbs 6:32-33

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

This may not be your most exciting reading of the year - instructions about offerings we do not offer and feasts we do not observe - but there are lessons to be learned here.

God set up an extensive system of sacrifices, festivals, and feasts for Israel. Why? It was not to put them through some kind of religious rigamarole but to aid them in a right relationship with God. The sacrifices were to deal with the sin that built a wall of separation between man and God. The feasts and the festivals interrupted Israel's daily routine so that they would take time to be with God, to come away from their busy daily lives and rest, worship, and honor God.

Devotional: Take Time to Be Holy 

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in him always, and feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

The old hymn makes a pretty good point, doesn't it? We live in the microwave age; a time when "instant" is too slow. We rush around from thing to thing, place to place, project to project. Do you feel as though your life is just one commitment after another?

That leaves little time to seek and draw near to God. And, as the hymn above rightly points out, it takes time to be holy. It takes time to learn the Word of God. It takes time to pray. It takes time to build relationships and minister to the needy. It all takes time. And most of us are so rushed, so harried and harassed, that there is simply no time for the things of God. 

Evidently, while things may be more extreme in our day, it is not a new problem. In Leviticus 23, God established in the Law a series of special holy days and festivals that were meant to be observed by God's people. Of course, there was a Sabbath day every week of the year. There was the Passover on the 14th day of the first month (usually around our Easter time), followed by seven days of Unleavened Bread. Then there was what came to be known as the Feast of Pentecost 50 days later. The seventh month had a special day of rest on the 1st, followed by the Day of Atonement on the 10th and then the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths) starting on the 15th. By the time that was over, most of the seventh month was taken up in Sabbaths, festivals, and feasts.

Think how many days that was. There were 52 Sabbaths. There was Passover, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement and the two 7-day Feasts (which both, of course, included a Sabbath). By my calculations, that is about 67 days of the year devoted to rest and worship. That's a lot of time, just less than 20% of the days of a year. 

But God knew that it takes time to be holy. It takes time apart from life's normal pursuits, pleasures, and passions to focus on the things of God. We must come apart and give ourselves to the pursuit of God's face. We do not have set feasts and festivals as Israel did. We live in the daily rest of Christ, granted us in grace. But we also need to be careful to take time to be holy every day. We ought to set aside days, even perhaps weeks of spiritual retreat and restoration. 

While we may not live under the strict festival structure of the Old Testament Law, we are foolish if we do not heed its purpose. We must regularly take time to be holy, to seek God, to repent of sin, to renew our zeal and to seek the power of God. 

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.By looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be;Thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.

In the words of that song lies the secret of life. Take time to be holy. 

Oh, Lord, today was so busy, with good things, with important things, and with mundane things. The phone rang and the computer hummed. Forgive me that I did not take the time to be holy that I needed. May I do that every day, coming apart from the world and its pursuits to seek the kingdom of God and your righteousness. 

Think and Pray:

Do you take time out of your schedule to rest and to worship God, to honor him as he deserves?
Do you "take time to be holy?"