Holiness

Do not defile yourselves by touching them.  You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them.  For I am the LORD your God.  You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.  So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God.  Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy. [Leviticus 11.43-45]

Holiness is a "touchy" thing.  I say this because one's holiness could be negatively affected (forfeited) by physically touching certain unclean things in Old Testament times.  While I am not altogether sure why this would be (because God made those little creatures), I am sure that this rule made ceremonial cleanliness a big and certainly recurring deal!  There is no doubt that the people of Israel had to pay extremely close attention to what they did and where they went regarding their ceremonial cleanliness.

The reason ceremonial cleanliness was so important was because anything less was (and still is) consumed by the holiness of God (ref. Nadab & Abihu in today's OYCB reading).  If any defilement were allowed into God's presence, then God Himself could not be holy.  And since that is not going to happen, God's "Just" characteristic insures that there will be no mixing of that which is sacred and that which is common.

I did a little forward looking into the Gospels today searching for anywhere Jesus demanded holiness.  I may have missed it, but I found nothing indicating that Jesus demanded holiness as the result of ceremonial cleansing.  What I did find however was John 17.17 where Jesus prayed asking God to, "Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth."  And then Jesus went on to clarify this by declaring in John 17.19, "And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth." 

So, believers in Christ are off the holiness hook, right?  Exactly!  The only thing New Testament believers are responsible for is valid and real faith in the Son of God.

What does valid and real faith in Christ look like?

I think maybe Old Testament ceremonial cleanliness and protocol might have been easier!

Father, I am faced with my own pitiful faithless existence once again today.  And what is more is that there is nothing I can "do" to fix it.  I cannot be good enough - I cannot be ceremonial clean enough - mainly because You do no even want those things...  Help my unbelief!