Deuteronomy 14:1-2 -Why live a life of consecration?

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 leave the people of Israel without a doubt that God had chosen and set them apart for His own possession. Of all the people on the face of the earth, God had chosen to make them His very own. Therefore, they were expected to live as God’s consecrated people in the world. They must not conform to the ways and standards of the people around them. To do so would make them lose their character and uniqueness.

Today, like the people of Israel, we followers of Christ are called out of the world in Him to be God’s consecrated people. First Peter 2:9-10 affirm it. In these two verses, God explicitly said, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” This being the case, it is appropriate to consider how should one live his or her life as God’s chosen people.

Forbidding the people from cutting themselves nor shave their foreheads for the sake of the dead, was a call for the people to live a life of non-conformity to the pagans. For us Christians, the same call is made. We must not be conformed to the standards of the world around us. Firstly, to be conformed to the world around us is incongruent to our calling. We will be no different from the people of the world if we adopt their value system and behave like them. We must not digress and live like our past. Secondly to be conformed to the world would render us ineffective as witnesses to the people of the world. When we are not different from them in conduct and behavior, we have nothing different to point them to God.  Let us live a life that's congruous with our calling as God's people!