This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood. – Leviticus 3:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 1, 2012): Leviticus 3

We seem to live in a compartmentalized world. So much so, that sometimes I wonder if we know who we really are. One complaint that has always been laid at the door of the church is that the church is full of hypocrites – basically people who behave differently when they are at church or with church people than they do in any other situation. The root of the word actually indicates an actor on the stage. But the accusation is more than a little unfair. The truth is that we find ourselves actors on a stage in all of our life situations. We do not act the same way at work as we do when we are with our friends, and we do not act the same way when we are with our friends as we do when we are with our families. All through life we seem to be good at becoming the actors on our own private stage – almost to the point where we lose who it is that we are.

Authentic may be the most overused word in our culture, but that might be because it is one of our greatest needs. We all need to be able to find that place where we can just be. I am not saying that we need to find a place where we can be rude, because that is just who we are. Etiquette is important if we are going live in the midst of a society, but we need to be real. There are some things that continue over all of our realities – everything cannot be defined by the situation that we are facing. There really is an ultimate right and wrong.

God’s message is that there are some things that need to span over all of our lives. In this case, it is simply how the fat and the blood of an animal are treated. These are to be the domain of God, not just for the animals that are brought into the sacrifice, but all of the animals that would be eaten by the family or sold to provide for other needs – all of the fat and the blood belonged to God. No matter what the situation was, this law would remain. And it may have seemed to have been a simple act, but it was a start in trying to break a nation from the practice of being simply actors on a stage. It was a beginning a journey, changing them from being actors that react to the whatever stage they may find themselves on and instead becoming a people who let the God that they were to serve infiltrate every area of their lives.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 4

Personal Note: To all of my Canadian Friends - Happy Canada Day!