Leviticus 11:44-45 (NASBStr)
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.
The reason God gives for the way they (the nation of Israel) should eat is because of His holiness and His redemptive act in their lives!! What does that mean for us today if that is the reason He gives them? They way we treat our body, whether it is for what goes in it (eating) or what goes out of it (activity) should be done or understood with the mindset that God redeemed us. We are purchased with a price and therefore we are God's. Proper eating and God honoring activity does not redeem us. As we see in the above verses the reason for their conduct in dietary habits was because they were ALREADY redeemed. The nation confused this and began to think this was a method of their redemption. It is because God redeems us that we change our activity, not because we change our activity that He redeems us. God has declared us holy based upon the gift of faith He gives us to believe in His Son's redemptive act. God in us will produce new activity from us. It is natural. The nation of Israel missed this. They thought the dietary laws would make them holy. But, God had already redeemed them and therefore that should have meant a different approach to life. We can make the same mistake. Now that we have been redeemed we are to live differently. Our eating and activity ought to be different because we belong to Him and declared holy by Him.
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