Day 43, or February 12. Simply keeping the rules is not enough. Our thoughts today are
rooted in Numbers chapter 6, verses 1 to 4. The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites
and say to them, If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to
the Lord as a Nazarite, they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink. As long
as they remain under their Nazarite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the
grapevine, nor even the seeds or skins.
Now the big picture that surrounds these verses. God wanted His people to be the light of the
world, a people who would radiate their God to the rest of the world, but they never quite
made it. They kept missing the point of His rules and regulations. They were not there
to grind them down, but were given to declare a standard, which made it clear that they
needed God's help to achieve lives that honored Him. Their call was to be God's holy people,
in an unholy world. The particularly dedicated followers were called Nazarites, and the most
famous of these was Samson, who, much later, was a judge as the Israelites settled into
the promised land.
And now our action step for today. We are to be salt and light in the world, Matthew
chapter 5 verses 13 to 14 reminders. Following the rules should be a sign that you are committed
to God. Simply following the rules does not make you committed to God, it just makes you
a great rule keeper. In our passage today there are lots and lots of detailed instructions
about being separate from worldly living, being in the world but not of it. This whole
concept is an enormous challenge and is reflected in the New Testament book of James chapter
2 verse 26, where James tells us, just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith
is dead without good works. In other words, your faith should produce good works, but
good works are inadequate by themselves and not a substitute for faith. Don't stop doing
good but rather check your motives to see that you are doing God's will rather than
yours.