Year 4, Day 117: Numbers 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Yes, this is another day in which we can talk about identity.  There are two great reasons for this.  Notice that God knows all of His people well enough to tell Moses whom he should use to conduct the census.  Yes, God knows His million-plus nation intimately enough to pick out assistants who can help Moses.   So God knows His people pretty well.  In fact, one might think that God knows His people better than they know themselves.  If that’s true, why shouldn’t we get our identity from Him instead of ourselves?

At the end of this chapter we also hear quite clearly that the Levites are excluded from the census that God commands Moses to do.  God separates His priests out even further!  That is a huge comment on identity.  To be a priest of God – remember that all Christians belong to the priesthood of all believers – means that we are separate.  We are called for God’s purposes in life.  Our identity is not found in the world, it is found in God.  In truth, if we get our identity from the world are we truly His priests?  Are we truly holy and separate if our identity comes from the world?

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