The Holiness of God and the Moral Compass of Humanity

The Holiness of God and the Moral Compass of Man
Read Leviticus 20:23-27
"Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine."

Our culture has lost its moral compass,  descending into the abyss of moral confusion and chaos. However, where do we turn to find moral clarity? Some turn to the collective wisdom of people in which the most votes of the people determine morality and ethics. For others, their moral compass becomes personal pleasure and happiness. "You Light up My Life," a popular song in the '70s, highlights this perspective with the lyrics: "It can't be wrong when it feels so right." Others look inward to themselves and embrace and develop their moral compass while affirming everyone's different perspective. "What is right for me may not be right for you; you have to do what you believe." However, God makes it clear that these are ultimately unreliable. Our conscience may be corrupted, "There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Likewise, society, driven by secularism and postmodernism, leads us away from God. "The sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). So pleasure and happiness distort right and wrong: "You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter" (James 5:5).
Where do we turn for moral guidance if pleasure, the world, and our conscience lead to the path of destruction? The answer lies in the holiness of God. As we already pointed out, the statement, "Be holy, because, the Lord your God, am holy," is given as the basis and motivation for obedience. Over fifty times in Leviticus, the words "I am the Lord your God" are used. Yet holiness is not a static condition but an active guide. Holiness is the attribute that is to govern every action, every thought, and every moral decision. Holiness is not a state of being but a way of living. Just as God is separate from the sin of the world, so we are to be separated from sin. Holiness is more than just a rejection of what is wrong; it is also the pursuit of what is proper and consistent with the nature of God. Holiness is the summation of all God's moral requirements.
Because we now belong to Christ, we are not to follow the people's customs; instead, we are to embrace God's moral and spiritual law. In order to impress upon them the importance of separation from sin, God just rituals and practices. We often look at the list of what is clean and unclean as strange and outdated. However, the dietary laws had a three-fold purpose. The first was to protect the people from foods that could spread diseases and illnesses. Second, many dietary and ceremonial laws prohibit specific activities that were involved in pagan worship. These dietary laws were partly given to avoid any hint of idolatry (Lev. 20:23-25). Third, and more importantly, these laws served as ritual acts to impress upon the people the importance of being separated from the world and devoted to God. In a world without written words, rituals became the means of communicating moral lessons and passing those lessons from one generation to another.  
The moral laws in the Old Testament were an expression of God's holiness, and thus they were to be the standard for the whole community. The command to place a copy of the law in the Ark of the Covenant highlighted the centrality of the law.
Just as God is separate from evil, we are to be free from sin's influence. Instead of following the world, we are to pursue the holiness of God in all aspects of life. Today ask God to reveal areas in your life where you are not conforming to him and prayerfully seek to change your behavior to conform to God's holy standard. The holiness of God is the North Star upon which we must set our moral compasses in a confused world. Any other moral standard will ultimately lead us to spiritual decay and destruction.