Take a Risk...

Over the past 21 years God has challenged my walk. Each year He shows me something new from something old in my life that I may have already experienced or read. I am a seminary grad. I know, that really means nothing. I can remember sitting in the library watching guys who were in seminary…who only appeared to study the word, but I often wondered if they lived it. When I became a “seminary student”, I remember the words I thought and I knew I did not want to be one that sat and only read pages in a book, exegeted the scriptures and debated with others. I wanted to live it, breath it, share it and engraft it to my soul.
So, as I sit here reading about the LAW in Leviticus…not an easy read…there is one verse that hit me. Leviticus 25:23
The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.

Do you know how POWERFUL that verse is? We all sit and talk about how what we have it not “really” ours, but God’s, yet, do we really believe that, do we really act on that? As I sat and pondered this I was reminded of something that Christopher Write stated in Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament on page 225, about the time of jubilee and what verse 23 entails: “This is what lies behind the detailed laws in the Torah concerning the use of land, preservation of people’s share in it, justice and compassion in sharing its produce, protection of those who work on it, special provision for those who become poor and have to sell it, and all the other specific economic mechanisms designed to sustain an equitable distribution and enjoyment of the resources God has given to his people”

Okay, so how does this apply to us? Have we been missing something? Did you know that as followers of Christ nothing we own is really ours? Everything, everything belongs to God. What does that mean? Acts 2:42-47 states: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I’m not saying to “sell everything” and create a communion (that’s not what Acts 2 is stating or Leviticus) What this means, and how this applies is if we see someone who is in need of basic things to live, we have a responsibility to help them. Justin Borger states, coming from the stewardship he has gleaned from Leviticus that we have the fundamental responsibility to redistribute our own personal resources in reflection of the fact that all our belongings don’t really belong to us but to God, who calls us to use them with equity and love.

Wow. How many of you have had Leviticus 25:23 poured over you? I know I have and I have stood in awe every time. How many of you have had the opportunity to pour Leviticus 25:23 unto someone else? I know this concept may be foreign to some and a bit scary as we face some strange economic ups and downs. We all have debt and I am not typing this to say throw all that idea of debt away and go hog wild.

I don’t know your life’s situation. I don’t know where God is calling you to be a Leviticus 25:23. Maybe it is monetary. Maybe food, clothing, time spent with someone…
What I am asking you is to take a risk this week and ask God to show you how to live Leviticus 25:23.

AT