Leviticus 19 is mighty precious because this is where we get the phrase "love your neighbor as yourself." When we remember God's mercy to save us from our sins, as he saved the people from slavery in Egypt, we want to be holy like God. We can willingly keep his laws out of a deep desire to do what is right, to be holy because God is holy, to truly love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, which sums up the law.

Verses 3-19 teach us discernable ways to love God and to love our neighbor. We must honor our parents, keep his Sabbaths, not make idols, follow his regulations for the peace offering, and remember the poor and the foreigners by providing for them from our surplus. When we live such holy lives, it is obvious that we love God and our neighbors. This is a sanctified life in action.

Verses 11-18 teach us concretely how to love our neighbor. Don't steal or lie. Don't swear or misuse God's name. Don't scam others or withhold wages. Do not abuse the deaf and blind. Do not practice injustice, do not slander, nor endanger others, do not hate a neighbor yet rebuke a neighbor when he is wrong, and do not hold a grudge. Keeping God's laws reveal how we intimately love God and our neighbor as ourselves.


Application: Father, strengthen me to remember your grace to a sinner like me and love others as myself.
One Word: Love your neighbor as yourself