How Big's Your Corners?
Welcome to the 90th issue of Pulpit to Pew Crew Newsletter, I'm Brad McClure, and we are on a journey through the Bible in 2023.
Happy Monday, Friends!
For one final time, we are dropping our anchor in Leviticus. How are you doing in this book?
On Thursday's podcast, I discussed the different sacrifices and touched on the feasts, but as you read this book, you notice God gets detailed with His instructions to Israel.
How detailed?
God even discusses bodily fluids that come from a man or woman...yeah, detailed.
I read (or heard taught) once that a lot of these detailed instructions on purification and uncleanness went beyond the spiritual lesson of holiness. It also was to protect the nation of Israel from diseases. They weren't advanced yet with medicines and technology. God's instructions protected them from catastrophic outbreaks of disease.
I'm not positive about my source for that or its truth, but it makes sense. For some reason, I've never forgotten that as I read down through these verses.
There's another thought from our reading I've heard someone discuss before that has stuck with me for years.
It comes from Leviticus 19 and God's instructions to the people concerning the corners of their fields.
God established a plan for the poor. When one was harvesting their fields, they were to leave the corners of the field for the poor and strangers (guests; foreigners).
This was God's way of caring for the poor and needy. It was an opportunity for compassion for the people of Israel.
You'll notice in the reading no dimensions were given for the corner. Your corner could be thin, or it could be wide. God established a plan but allowed some freedom to express generosity.
Most reading this aren't farmers; if you are, there's no law about the edges of your fields.
Still, reading this brings up a good question. How generous are we?
- Are we generous with our time?
- Are we generous with our attention?
- Are we generous with our money?
The lesson I taught Sunday about how compassion/generosity can make a difference in people's lives seems to go along with the theme of the verses I've highlighted above.
Here's a challenge for this week.
Find a way to show generosity to someone you cross paths with.
Have a great week!