Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. – Leviticus 19:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 17, 2012): Leviticus 19

We seem to have a tendency to desire to separate what is secular and of the world and what is sacred. Some of the early heresies of the church made the most of this predisposition. I recently heard a sermon preached where the speaker spoke of the separation. He said that the thing that we fear the most that the preacher might tell us is that our Sunday faith needs to be lived out in our weekday work. We want the heresy to be true. We want a clear dividing line between the faith – and we want to constrict our faithful behavior to the Weekend Worship Service. Maybe he is right.

Some cults try to continue the heresy. Their belief is that there is a difference between the believer and the non-believer. And that because there is a spiritual difference between the people, there is also a different set of expectations. The spiritual laws, even the most basic ones like “do not bear false witness against your neighbor” (do not lie), only really apply to those who are like you spiritually. To anyone else it is quite alright to lie and bear contempt. The reason seems to be that because they are not spiritually like you, they are not real people. And spiritual laws are meant only for real people.

But it is a difference that the Bible never speaks about. The biblical truth is that we are to treat the other with respect, regardless of their spiritual reality. The biblical idea is that we are all the children of God; we are all heirs to the promise of God. The problem is that we sometimes just do not recognize that simple fact.

God has given us a mission. We are to live out our faith in the work that we do every day. We are to live out our faith in the relationships that we have with people every day – both those we share a faith with and those that hold to a different belief system. In living out our faith, we speak of the existence of our God – and of the love that he holds for everyone we come into contact with – no matter what it may be that they believe.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 20