Year 4, Day 135: Numbers 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

I can’t help but feel the challenge of Numbers 20.  In the theological section I wrote three years ago, I spent most of my time talking about the sin of Moses and Aaron being not their disobedient act as much as their self-righteous heart.  As God says, they fail to uphold God and His righteousness in the midst of the congregation.  Rather than remind the Hebrew people of the righteousness of God, they act out of their anger and strike the rock with no mention of God!

Ugh.

How guilty am I of that?  How guilty am I of not reminding people of God’s righteousness?  When having a conversation or a debate, how quick am I to forget that one of my roles is to ask “Where is God in this?”  How quick am I to get caught up in what is going on around me so that I lose sight of God, who should be at the center!

This leads me back to pondering UP.  Who or what am I worshiping?  In those moments where I take my eyes off of God and get caught up in the discussion at hand or the decision to be made, who or what am I worshiping?  If God truly were the center in those moments, I would not forget to ask “where is God in this.”

I believe we are all guilty of this from time to time – especially in the high and low moments of life.  It is easy to get caught up in the excitement, joys, and celebrations of a life going well.  It is easy to get caught up in the pain, hurt, and frustration of a life going poorly.  But when we remember that God is the center, He can bring balance to those moments of high and low by reminding us of what is truly important.  Who is your UP today?

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Year 4, Day 134: Numbers 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

Who do you worship?  I’m not talking about just on Sunday mornings when you go to church.  Who do you worship in your waking moments of life?  What – or who - is the goal of your life?

I think the truth is that all of us worship multiple things in life.  I’d like to say that I am always worshipping God, but that’s just not true.  I do sin.  I’m not perfect.  Other things – sometimes other people – occasionally come between God and me.  I wish it weren’t so, but it is.

Here in Numbers 19, I think we get yet another glimpse into God’s concern for us to worship Him.  Look into God’s Word in verses 11-22.  God spends much time talking about how we deal with the dead.  I think God is cautioning us that if we’re not careful, our loved ones can become objects of worship.  After all, how many cultures throughout history practiced the worship of their ancestors?

Now look specifically into verse 12.  Notice that God tells the person who has touched a dead person that they are to wash on the third day and the seventh day.  Remember that these are especially holy numbers.  The number three represents God.  The number seven represents completion found in God.  It is significant to note that even in our process of burying our dead God makes certain to instill patterns within the process to remind us of Him.

We should always be aware of the one we are worshiping.  Our works always point to what or whom we are worshiping.  How we spend our time points us to what or whom we worship.  Even how we treat the dead truly demonstrates to us what or who we are worshiping.  So who do you worship?  How often do you really need God’s reminder to worship Him?

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Year 4, Day 133: Numbers 18

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.

At first glance, this chapter is a pretty dry read.  If you want some inspirational thoughts on the subject of tithing, I’d invite you to follow the link above to the theological commentary.  But for this post, we’re going to look at identity.

By now, we know that our identity does come best from God.  Furthermore, we also understand that we need to be balanced in our life with respect to our relationship with God (UP), our relationships with our spiritual family (IN), and our relationships with the rest of the world (OUT).  Combining these two together shows that while our identity comes from God, it should therefore naturally flow into our IN and OUT (spiritual family and mission, respectively.)  Our identity should be visible in whom we hang around and in what ministry we perform.

Look at Numbers 18 in the big picture.  A few chapters ago we heard about the Korahite rebellion.  The Levites were having an identity crisis.  They wanted to be involved in the central workings of the tabernacle.  God punished those who rebelled.  But here in this chapter – once God settles once and for all whom He has chosen to be the spiritual leaders – we see that God gives the Levites their identity in both their spiritual community and their mission.  They are to be the support for the priests.  That’s their IN.  They are to guard the tabernacle to ensure that such a rebellion does not happen again.  That’s their OUT.

Rooted in God, their identity comes from Him.  In being Levites, they are able to put their identity into practice by serving the priests and guarding the temple for God.

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Year 4, Day 132: Numbers 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

In Numbers 17, we hear about Aaron’s staff budding and bearing fruit.  In my theological commentary, I talk about the preposterous nature of this story and how seeing this story as outside the physical laws of the universe actually points us to God and enhances our belief in Him.  This brings us to the idea of God being King of the universe.

God created the universe, not the other way around.  God came before the universe; the universe did not come before Him.  God established the physical laws of the universe; the physical laws of the universe did not bind God.

He is God.  God can make a staff bud and bear fruit.  God can part water.  God can walk on water.  God can bring new life to those who have died.  He is God.  He is King.  He gives authority and power unlike anyone else.

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Year 4, Day 131: Numbers 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character, Competency

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.
• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

In Numbers 16, we see Moses’ and Aaron’s character being called into question.  Other people want to lead.  Other people want to be equal with Moses and Aaron.  We can learn a good bit by how Moses and Aaron lead.

First, notice that they try and resolve the issue with words.  A diplomatic solution is always the easiest because it has the least cost.  Moses and Aaron seek out the resolution with the least cost because they are a people of character.  For the record, they do a competent job at diplomacy.  It’s just that the rebellious leaders are stubborn.

Next, notice that when the diplomatic solution doesn’t work that they essentially go to war.  When diplomacy fails, confrontation is unavoidable.  But Moses and Aaron don’t fight the battle themselves.  Rather, Moses and Aaron are content to let God fight the battle for them.  They again display their character in leadership as well as their competency to lead.  They step back and let God fight for them.

Finally, when even more people rebel against them and God sends a plague into the people, we truly see the character and competency of these leaders.  Anyone could have celebrated while their enemies were destroyed.  But a true and competent man of God steps into the breach between God and those who deserve to die.  Moses declares to God his desire to rescue the people.  Aaron acts out Moses’ plan to stop the plague.  Here again we see Moses and Aaron competently leading forth in a display of character that is above and beyond what the world would define as character.

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Year 4, Day 130: Numbers 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Guidance, Forgiveness

• Guidance: God grants us His guidance.  Sometimes this guidance is God leading us away from temptation.  Sometimes this guidance is helping us to follow in a direction for which He has chosen.  Our default position should be to wait for God’s guidance and then follow when it comes.
• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In this chapter of Numbers we hear about intentional and unintentional sin.  Both of these topics require forgiveness.  Sin is sin.  Any unchecked sin can lead to more sin.  We need forgiveness because perfection is out of our grasp.  Sin is a part of our current reality.  Our sin must be dealt with through God’s atoning forgiveness so that we can remain in relationship with Him.

Of course, this is then where guidance comes into play.  Left to our own devices, we’ll simply sin again.  But with God’s guidance, we can often avoid sin.  God can guide us through His ways to allow us to turn from the path of intentional and unintentional sin and into the path of true righteousness.  God’s guidance and forgiveness go hand in hand in keeping us on a path where we can continue to walk with Him.

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Year 4, Day 129: Numbers 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity, Authority

• 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.
• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

Identity comes from the Father.  Authority comes from the King.  If the King and the Father are one, then identity and authority should actually be two different sides of the exact same coin.  I’m not saying that identity and authority are the same thing.  Rather, what I am saying is that if the Father has created us with a particular identity then the King will give us the authority to live into that identity.  These concepts inherently go hand in hand with one another.

We see this twice in this chapter.  In a negative example, we see that the people rebel.  As punishment, God tells the people that they will wander through the wilderness and not take possession of the Promised Land.  God removes that from their identity.  Instead, the identity of this generation will be the generation that wandered through the wilderness.  God has given them the authority and power to survive in the wilderness until the next generation takes over.  But what God has not given them is the authority to take the Promised Land.  So when they go into the land, they discover they do not have the authority to do what God has not given them as a part of their identity.  They fail in taking the Promised Land because it is no longer their identity.

In a positive example, we see Joshua and Caleb.  They do live out of their identity and speak to God’s ability to fight for them.  Thus, it is still a part of God’s identity for them to enter into the Promised Land.  We know that Joshua will rise up in power and be the leaders of the people when that time is right.  Caleb will also be there beside Joshua.  Why do Joshua and Caleb have the authority to rise in power and lead the next generation into the Promised Land?  They have the authority from the King because the Father has rewarded them with that as a continued part of their identity.

When God gives us identity, we also have the authority to act in our identity.

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Year 4, Day 128: Numbers 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Okay, here’s a third good chapter in which we can look at character.  As I say above, character means doing the right thing regardless of whether or not people are looking.  Character is about hearing and obeying.  Character is about submitting to God and allowing Him to lead.

What does God task the spies to accomplish?  They are to go in and judge the quality of the land.  They are to evaluate the strength of the people.  That means they are to note where the towns are and where the people are strong and where they are weak.  That’s their job.

The spies do go and accomplish the job.  They at least have the character to get the job done.  This makes this perspective upon character different than the perspective we saw yesterday with Miriam.  At least here the spies are not a roadblock to getting the job done.  They come back and make their report.

However, they go too far.  When Caleb gets up to encourage the people in God’s ability to provide victory, the rest of the group talk about how they cannot do the job.  They talk about how they will not be successful.  They intimate that God’s not powerful enough.  They go too far and get ahead of God.  Rather than follow God’s lead, they jump to their own wisdom.  They put their character flaw on display.

Of course, this is human nature.  We all have a tendency to do this when making decisions.  We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how this character flaw impacts the community.  Rest assured, it will.  For today, we should focus on how when we get ahead of God we are not putting a godly character on display for Him or the world to see.

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Year 4, Day 127: Numbers 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

We’re going to look at the idea of character two days in a row – and we’ll probably look at character again tomorrow.  This is such an awesome chapter to look at character.  So let’s focus in on Miriam.  Why Miriam?  As I mention in my theological commentary, the verb “spoke against” is a feminine singular verb.  Miriam bears more guilt than Aaron in this chapter, although certainly Aaron bears the guilt of being a follower.

Look at what Miriam does.  Miriam buries the real issue underneath an attack against Moses’ wife.  She brings in an innocent bystander when the real issue is between her and God!  Rather than being honest with her feelings, she lashes out and attacks an easy target.  This is not a good display of character.

Furthermore, look at what is really at stake.  Miriam (and Aaron) is jealous!  She wants what God has given to Moses.  She’s not content with where God has placed her; she wants someone else’s role instead!  She’s not following God.  She’s not being obedient.

God desires that we do the right thing in any circumstance.  A person of character follows God rather than grumbles about where God has placed them.  A person of character is interested in doing the work of God rather than making a name for themselves.

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Year 4, Day 126: Numbers 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

In Numbers 11 we have display after display of horrible character traits among God’s people.  The people grumble against Moses.  God judges against them and brings about fire.  The people complain about the fire and Moses prays for them.  The fire resides, and you would think the people would be relieved.

But they’re not relieved.  They grumble against the divine food with which God has blessed them.  So God gives them quail, but then curses those who craved after the quail more than they craved the food from God’s own hand.  That speaks volumes about character right there, does it not?

Here’s the thing.  Our character is always on display.  Our character is on display when things are going well.  Are we a braggart or a person who hogs the spotlight?  Our character is on display when things go poorly.  Are we a complainer or a pessimist or a stumbling block to others?  Our character is on display when we have much.  Are we generous and compassionate?  Our character is on display when we have nothing.  Do we trust in the Lord to provide for our needs?

Our character is always on display in every situation.  The question that we need to ask ourselves is whether or not we are doing the right thing.  Is our character actually the character that God would desire us to have?

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Year 4, Day 125: Numbers 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up, In

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.
• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

In Numbers 10, we hear about Moses and Hobab.  Moses wants to take Hobab with him as they journey through the wilderness.  After all, Hobab knows what he’s doing with respect to finding things like food and water in the wilderness.

But then again, so does God.  Right?

This is a great time to remember the relationship triangle.  Everything comes out of our relationship with God.  That is the Up dimension.  We are to follow God first and foremost, not the world or its people.  We are to put our trust in God.

On the other hand, God does not create us to be alone.  He gives us people to mentor us and to lead us through life.  If God is in our Up position and we are following Him, then we will also be prepared to follow those people that He sends our way to help us and guide us.  But we must not get these reversed.  We need to follow God first and then follow those He puts in our life.  If we follow others without following God first, we’ll end up not following God at all.

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Year 4, Day 124: Numbers 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority

Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

As a spiritual leader, I am always impressed with Moses in these opening verses.  It doesn’t matter how often I read these verses and how many times I hear these words.  Moses just impresses me when he says, “Wait, let me consult the Lord, and I’ll get an answer.”

I think this answer does three things.  First, it should remind the people that Moses does not have the answers.  He’s not God.  Second, it puts humility on display.  Moses does not need to have an answer for everything.  Third, it models true authority.  Moses is the leader because his authority comes from God.  Going to consult God reinforces this behavior.

When we lead out of our own authority we have no guarantee of success.  We don’t even have a guarantee of saying what God wants us to say.  But when we lead out of humbleness before God’s authority we can make progress in His ways.  Life should be about Him and doing His will rather than us having all the answers.

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Year 4, Day 123: Numbers 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

Numbers 8 is another great chapter through which we can look at the lens of obedience.  We know that spirituality starts with the Father and flows into our identity.  When we are living in our most contented state, we are living obedient to that identity.

This is a great lens through which we can see the Levites.  They were a special people brought close to the Lord.  But they weren’t brought close to rule over the rest of the Hebrews.  They weren’t brought close to the Lord to sit in luxury and dominate.  They were brought close to the Lord to work for and serve the Lord.

In human culture, proximity to the highest authority in the land typically translates into luxury.  Kings and queens have courts and dinners and servants and estates.  Life according to the human lens is a life of climbing into luxury.  But not so with God.  Our God is a God of work.  He worked in creation.  His hand was at work in history and is at work in us now.  It should not surprise us, therefore, to find out that proximity to God implies that we will be about His work, too.  We are not called into proximity to God to live in luxury or be superior to those around us.  We are called into proximity to God to be obedient to the identity of disciple-making to which He has called us.

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Year 4, Day 122: Numbers 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

This is a really neat and challenging passage in which I can speak about obedience.  If you read my theological commentary from three years ago, you will find that I spent much time confessing that sometimes I find myself struggling to find meaning in the rote.  After all, Numbers 7 is a very rote chapter in which meaning seems to be hard to grasp.

Sometimes it is difficult to plunge through the same thing day after day and find meaning.  Sometimes it is difficult to find meaning in the daily routine that doesn’t change, the daily tasks for which there is no gratitude, the spiritual pursuits whose fruit often seems so small.  Like this chapter from Numbers, sometimes the mundane can be so uninspiring.

However, this is where the idea of obedience comes into play.  If the Father is where spirituality starts and if my identity truly comes from Him, then my obedience is important.  I need to be obedient to what God wants of me – especially in the mundane and rote tasks of life.  Obedience to my devotions may produce small daily fruit, but after a year or two that small daily fruit is a profound heap!  Obedience to my daily routine may not feel like it is producing results, but that daily routine produces a repeatable rhythm that others can learn from, imitate, and become discipled!  Quite often it is actually obedience among the mundane that ends up producing the greatest fruit in the long run.

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Year 4, Day 121: Numbers 6

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.

This chapter is a no-brainer when it comes to talking about identity.  The Nazirite vow is the epitome of making a promise to God and then separating oneself from the world.  Living a life where one’s identity is established solely according to the ways of the Lord is quite literally what the Nazirite vow was all about!

When a person took a Nazirite vow, they were voluntarily foregoing many of the cultural benefits of society – such as drinking alcohol and anything from the grapevine.  The Nazirite was a person who desired to draw closer to God and do so by separating themselves from the ways of the world and embracing the more difficult ways of God.  That is a great summary of the general guiding principles of a person who wants their identity to come from the Father and not from the world around them.

We also hear identity all over the Aaronic Blessing.  Where does the blessing come from?  Who shines His face upon us and is gracious to us?  Who looks upon us with favor?  Who gives us peace?  The Lord.  Life is lived best when our identity comes from the Lord.

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Year 4, Day 120: Numbers 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Obviously, forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

As we open Numbers 5, we hear about the punishment for the unclean as well as some words on restitution.  The unclean are to be put out of the camp – at least until they are no longer unclean.  Proper restitution is to be accomplished.  In both cases we hear the lesson that God desires that those people who are to be in His midst are clean from their sinfulness.

Of course, in Christ we are made clean.  We are washed in the blood.  We know complete and utter forgiveness through Christ.  We should not forget this point.  The Hebrew people of Numbers certainly couldn’t have known this, but we in our day most certainly do.

Knowing that we are made clean in Christ, it is also valuable for us to remember that God desires us to be clean from our sins.  He doesn’t want us to take our cleanliness for granted, He desires that we genuinely repent and seek after spiritual cleanliness.  He knows that we cannot be perfect, but He desires that we still take the process of repentance and forgiveness seriously.  Our forgiveness is no cause for cheap grace.  Rather, our forgiveness is costly.  Restoration is costly.  Forgiveness is something to be valued.

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Year 4, Day 119: Numbers 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: D3, D4, Discipleship Square

• D3 is the moment in life where a person is consciously competent about what they are able to do as a disciple of Jesus Christ.  They are maturing, able to do ministry and disciple others, but it is still a conscious effort.  This is the time when a disciple’s skills are often honed deeply.
• D4 is the moment in life where a person is unconsciously competent about what they can do as a disciple of Christ.  They are mature.  Often they disciple others and perform ministry without having to think about it.  They do it simply out of their spiritual maturity and their closeness with God.

Looking at Numbers 4 allows us to see the importance for maturity.  Notice that in all other censuses that the age of counting is 20 and older.  But when the Levites are counted, the required age is 30.  When it comes to dealing with the work of God and moving His earthly dwelling place, God wants mature people to do the task.  He wants people who are spiritually mature enough to know their place, execute what needs to be done, not do anything that shouldn’t be done, and lead with maturity.  God wants people who are mature enough to be willing to listen to His orders and then act upon them appropriately.

What God wants are people who are competent.  He doesn’t mind people growing into competency.  But there are certain tasks in the faith that are so important that the competent should do them.

We can see this in the New Testament as well.  Before Jesus leaves His disciples, He leads them into maturity.  Before Paul goes out into mission, Barnabas mentors him into maturity.  Paul likewise mentors Timothy, Luke, Titus, and a host of other characters.  We are to be a people who look forward to developing God’s servants into mature followers who are capable of listening and then doing what God asks of them.

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Year 4, Day 118: Numbers 2-3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

What a great set of readings to ask who is at the center of our own lives!  Here in these chapters we are confronted with the Hebrew people forming camp around the tabernacle.  God is literally at the center of their life.  We hear about the Levites camping around the tabernacle in order to draw even more attention to God being the center of our life.  God makes His point clear.  Life starts with God.  He is the center of life, identity, and authority.

This is a great day to ask if that has remained true throughout the millennia that followed.  Is it true today?  Is it true in my life?  Is it true in your life?  Is God at the center of your life?

When God is the center of life, life takes a certain shape.  Life looks and feels like God.  When God is at the center of life, He is present and visible.  As we look back at the book of Numbers, we see evidence of God’s presence in the life of Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s offspring, the Levites, Joshua, and Caleb.  Life starts with God.  True life flows from God.

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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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Year 4, Day 116: Leviticus 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

As we end the book of Leviticus, it is a great place to be reminded of our true relationship with God.  Is He the source of our identity?  Is He the source of our values?  Is He the source of our authority?  Is His passion driving our passion?

Here at the end of Leviticus we see God placing value upon people.  In my theological commentary from three years ago I speak about the difference between reading these words in an eternal spiritual context versus reading them in the context of worldly pursuits and worldly economics.  But with that point aside, the one thing that we hear quite clearly is that the things that are dedicated to the Lord are more costly to redeem than the things of the world.  If you dedicate a sheep to God and then want to buy it back from God so you could do with it what you wanted, you would pay one fifth again plus the price of the sheep.

Is that really how we perceive our spiritual life?  Is my time with God the most valuable time in my day?  Is my time in worship more costly to redeem than my time of vacation or even my time of work?  Is Sunday church something to cross off my to-do list so I can get on with the day or is it a time to be valued and prized?  When God is truly in our focal point of worship, His things and His ways dominate our life.

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