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Leviticus 11: 45 reads:

For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Why did the Lord take our place at Calvary? Why is he merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy? Why has he abundantly blessed us as we have walked with him? Why did he create man in the first place?

To me, the verse above answers these questions so clearly – … to be our God.

Here is another treasure from Leviticus:

Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the LORD. Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you, that brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD. 

I guess the next question is, “What does it mean for the Lord to ‘be my God’?

… you will have to answer that one yourself.

God’s Word is so rich – like treasure hid in a field.

One of my all-time favorite songs is Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s ‘Lead Me Lord’…

Lead me Lord, I will follow
Lead me Lord, I will go
You have called me, I will answer
Lead me Lord, I will go

Where will we go as we follow Jesus?

John 14: 6 :

Jesus said to him, (Thomas), “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 

Where will we go as we follow Jesus?

Mark 9: 2 :

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them.

Where will we go as we follow Jesus?

There is so much more…  read if for yourself.

Exodus 25: 1,2 :

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering…” 

This very offering went on to be used to construct the Old Testament Tabernacle, including the ‘most holy (place)’.

Romans 12: 1 :

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 

Tell me, what can’t God do in our lives as we willingly offer them to him… becoming living sacrifices?

It’s all there… read it for yourself.

Mark 4 begins: 

And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching…

… the text continues with Jesus beginning His teaching with the Parable of the Sower.

One of the noteworthy truths found in the Parable of the Sower is that the only thing that changes is ‘the ground’. The sower, Jesus, remains constant and the seed, the Word of God, remains constant – just the ground changes.

Something else worth noting is the way Jesus delivered His teaching. He wanted to make sure all those gathered to Him were able to hear what he said – not just those near him. Therefore, he spoke from a boat in the sea – facing the people.

The same Sower and the same Seed… the result determined by those who heard. The mystery of the Kingdom of God…

Dig in, and read it for yourself.

In John 10, Jesus said:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

From the beginning, it was God’s desire that man walk in life more abundantly:

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God’s will, his desire, for man has never changed. Provision has been secured through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – all that remains is for a man to choose. David prays in Psalm 17:

Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer. Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip. I have called upon You, for You will hear me oh God; incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech. 

Show Your marvelous lovingkindess by Your right hand, oh You who save those who trust in You from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings. 

Your choice.

Conspire – ‘to act in harmony toward a common end’

The Bible documents a conspiracy against Nehemiah to halt the rebuilding of the walls Jerusalem.

Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain on Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. Neh 6: 1-2

Are you aware of the conspiracy against you to halt your spiritual growth? (For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12) 

Jesus said the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life – and then Paul offers insight into the ‘way’ when he prays for the Church in 2Thessalonians 3… And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Wise as serpents, harmless as doves. It’s all there… read it for yourself.

Luke 20 records one of Jesus’ parables.

A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.   Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.   And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.   Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’   But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’   So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?   He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. 

As I pondered the parable, I was dumbstruck by the arrogancy of the vinedressers – believing that it was they who would determine who would receive the inheritance.

And yet, this happens over-and-over as the truth of God’s Word is minimized – being replaced by the religion of doctrine, philosophy, and tradition. Romans 3 says it best – ‘… let God be true, but every man a liar’.

Referring back to the parable, all mankind will one day stand before the owner of the vineyard – and he alone will determine one’s eternal destiny. Please, like never before, commit yourself to him and to his Word.  (Ps 119: 105)

And he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.”  Ez 8:17

So, what dictates ‘right’ and ‘wrong’? Society? Religion? Tradition? Political agenda? Economy? Culture? It seems like a person can trivialize most any behavior – even if it’s with an empty, “Whatever.” Kind of like smelling the sweetness of a clump of lavender to hide the stench of rottenness.

Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

When the world we know disappears, only one thing will remain – the Word of God. The same Word that will determine your eternal destiny. That’s what it says… read it for yourself.   (Psalm 119:105)

‘Good will toward men’ – declared by a multitude of the heavenly host at the birth of Jesus. Then, 2 chapters later in Luke 4, Jesus expressed that good will in Nazareth when he said:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. 

Tragically, those who heard him that day so rejected his good will toward them that they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built to throw him down over the cliff (where, Jesus passing through the midst of them went his way).

Ten verses later and at a different location, a group of people accepted his good will toward them, and all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him (Jesus); and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 

God is for us, and offers us only good will through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – as documented in the Bible. The effect his good will has in our lives is our choice.

Choose life.

‘Follow the Crowd’ – an idiom meaning ‘to do what everyone else is doing’.

2 Kings 10:18-27, a two minute read, documents a time where not following the crowd produced HIGH dividends.

So I challenge myself to always do what is right – even when ‘the crowd’ is heading a different direction.

Doing what is right is always the right thing to do. (Ps 119:105)