Stand at Attention! |
"Distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean" (Lev. 10:10 NIV). Go deeper: Leviticus 9-10; Mark 11:27-12:12; Psalm 29
We have lived in two cities each with a huge military contingency—San Diego, CA, and El Paso, TX—one Navy city and one Army town. In El Paso, I taught school on the post, and I couldn’t even pass the Ft. Bliss post gate without the appropriate sticker on my car. When the MPs saw it, they saluted, and I drove on through. In the military there are procedures to follow and rank to be respected. That’s the military way, and every buck private learns in short order that the military way is to be strictly followed.
We cherish an image of our loving heavenly father. It’s warm and it’s good and it’s comforting. He is indeed all those things and more. God does, though, have standards and protocols that we’re expected to respect. Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, neglected to obey God’s dictated plan of sacrifices, and they paid with their lives for their disregard of the holy. God admonished Aaron and his other sons with words we could heed today, you must distinguish between the holy and the common (Lev. 10:10).
God’s house; holy communion; marriage; store house tithing; corporate worship—on and on the list continues—are all things God expects us to respect. This is a day of the casual, and that’s not all bad. We can become too casual, though, with the things of God and treat them with mundane and run-of-the-mill superficiality.
Psalms 29 is a great contrast to Nadab and Abihu and perhaps the 21st century worshipper.Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness(Psalm 29:2). The Message translation shouts:Stand at Attention! That says it all. Pay attention to God’s customs and commandments. It’s not our duty; it’s our responsibility.
Who’s your commander?
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