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Day 43, or February 12. Simply keeping the rules is not enough. Our thoughts today are

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rooted in Numbers chapter 6, verses 1 to 4. The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites

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and say to them, If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to

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the Lord as a Nazarite, they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink. As long

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as they remain under their Nazarite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the

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grapevine, nor even the seeds or skins.

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Now the big picture that surrounds these verses. God wanted His people to be the light of the

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world, a people who would radiate their God to the rest of the world, but they never quite

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made it. They kept missing the point of His rules and regulations. They were not there

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to grind them down, but were given to declare a standard, which made it clear that they

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needed God's help to achieve lives that honored Him. Their call was to be God's holy people,

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in an unholy world. The particularly dedicated followers were called Nazarites, and the most

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famous of these was Samson, who, much later, was a judge as the Israelites settled into

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the promised land.

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And now our action step for today. We are to be salt and light in the world, Matthew

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chapter 5 verses 13 to 14 reminders. Following the rules should be a sign that you are committed

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to God. Simply following the rules does not make you committed to God, it just makes you

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a great rule keeper. In our passage today there are lots and lots of detailed instructions

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about being separate from worldly living, being in the world but not of it. This whole

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concept is an enormous challenge and is reflected in the New Testament book of James chapter

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2 verse 26, where James tells us, just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith

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is dead without good works. In other words, your faith should produce good works, but

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good works are inadequate by themselves and not a substitute for faith. Don't stop doing

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good but rather check your motives to see that you are doing God's will rather than

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yours.