Day #3 of #DailyNumbers. Depending on your personality and areas of interest, Numbers 3:1-4:49 is probably either incredibly boring or incredibly fascinating. Lets hope for the latter, since this section is obsessed with details and design. 😉
I find it interesting that both the soldiers (chapter 1) and the servants (chapter 2) are counted, but while military strategies are barely explored, the text goes into great detail about the nature of the people’s collective spiritual framework and activities. That says a lot about which one is the priority, and which one influences the other, doesn’t it?
If we were to take that principle and transfer it to each of our own spiritual lives (forgetting our collective spirituality for a moment), what would we see about ourselves? What we believe (our spirituality) is expressed through what we do (our actions), but sometimes we are overly concerned about our actions and we forget to check if our spirituality has drifted off track in some way, and perhaps our spirituality has become untrue or unhealthy.
Maybe that is why God pays so much attention to the detail and design of the spiritual framework for his people. If our integrity becomes slowly compromised in our core, it will inevitably leak outward into what we do (and do not do). And that is a dangerous thing.
For a follower of God, then, what is the core? What are the “details and design” of a healthy relationship with God? Well, the core is Jesus. Both theologically and experientially, a relationship with God “lives or dies” with Jesus. If you want to go on a good spiritual adventure and uncover the details and design of who Jesus is and what it means to have a relationship with him, read Luke and then Acts (essentially, Volume 1 and 2 of “The Message and Meaning of Jesus”).
One last observation. Sometimes, it may be tempting to think of God and Jesus only in terms of our own personal spirituality. That would be a big mistake. Since the beginning, healthy relationships with the person and mission of God have always been expressed and experienced in community. The intended “details and design” of biblical spirituality is that we live it together. Lone Ranger spirituality seldom works well.
Maybe now is the time for you to either re-engage with a healthy community of Jesus-followers, or engage for the first time. What is your next step?
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