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God gave the Jewish people dietary laws that helped set them
apart from the rest of the world as His covenant people. There may have been health considerations and
benefits, but the primary reason for the rules “was to remind the Israelites
that they belonged to God and were obligated to keep themselves separated from
everything that would defile them,” my commentary said. Even for us today, “The fact that we know God must make a difference in every aspect of our lives.”
As far as foods go, “Jesus made it clear to His disciples
that all foods were clean,” in Mark
7, my commentary added. One thing
unusual about these instructions was the command to “hate” things they weren’t
supposed to eat. Quoting from a tract
entitled, “Others May, You Cannot”, Wiersbe said he learned to get his directions from God and not from
other people, and that he had to be willing
to be different. “My great desire had to be to please the Lord joyfully,
not grudgingly, and not to see how
close I could get to sin and still not get into trouble.” That’s really what chapter 11 is all about.
He also mentioned the human tendency to take steps toward
disobedience by “reclassifying” sin and making it look acceptable instead of abominable. Discernment was a way to prevent that
occurring. “The Jews had to remind
themselves every hour of every day that they belonged to Jehovah … and that belonging to the nation of Israel
was a high and holy privilege.” The New Testament Christian was not to walk “as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of
their mind …” “Christ has redeemed
us, not that we might be free to please
ourselves, but that we might be free to serve Him, which is the greatest freedom of all.”
Father, please help me to have discernment to know
what I must stay away from. Point out
clearly to me what is defiling for me. Don’t let me try to reclassify sin to make it
acceptable. If You call it sin, it
is. I want my greatest desire to be to please You joyfully, not grudgingly.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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