Living Levitically, part 1

I was recently challenged to live Levitically for one month. Basically, that meant to take the law of the Old Testament, and make it relevant for today. This also meant looking at what the law meant then, and translate it to now. Here are some thoughts on my journey...

Living Levitically seemed like a challenge as well as a transformational exercise. I found this to be true on both accounts. Having experienced transformation through the use of various spiritual disciplines, I had an idea of what might transpire. Looking back, I expected some sort of change in me, some healing of sorts. After all, you do the work, God gives the blessing, right? To no longer hear the siren call beckon me into behavior that is less than valiant: those annoying, potential dangerous actions that I have used as defense mechanisms to keep myself safe over the years.

I further expected a change in how I viewed God. I thought if I did this, I would be blessed. Looking back, it seems a bit formula-matic. “Do something cool, God blesses.” Nice mantra, but I do not know how accurate it really is. Otherwise, it would be a sure fire way of controlling God. What I found was that even in my inability to “do something cool,” God still blessed. I feel like Jacob.

Jacob had an amazing blessing come to him through Abraham and Isaac. And yet, he continually made choices (even deceptive ones) that sought to get him a “different” blessing, one that was in the example of Esau, not his. In doing this, he never appears to experience the blessing Yahweh has for him, until he wrestles all night long, with God.

“The law is not a job description but is a doctor’s prescription.” D.P. Fuller, The Unity of the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1992). The law helps us understand what it looks like to live in the world as the people of Yahweh. When we do certain actions, we can be reminded of their representation or we can just do the act void of meaning. It is not only the intention of choosing how I experience the action, but also being mindful of what it means to the person looking on, in Israel’s case: the nations. On one side I use the object lesson as somewhat of a memory trigger, to help me remember God and his faithfulness. For many years, I thought doing the “discipline,” as ritual, accomplished nothing. As I have studied in other disciplines this year, I have realized we are wired in a way where those actions are formative, even when we do not fully understand them. A discipline, whether we fully understand it or not, forms us. The law, the way of being with the world as the people of God, forms us as well.

To be continued....