30-Day Leviticus Challenge

Today I’m starting a rather interesting experiment for my Old Testament class in seminary. I have developed 10 “instructions” for living, based on the laws from Leviticus, which I will follow for the next 30 days. I’m really excited but also really nervous.

My instructions are rooted in 4 main themes of the Levitical Law (and the first 5 books of the Old Testament as a whole). The themes are:

• Sacrifice and the Seriousness of Sin
• Purity
• Holiness (both as a concept and as an example to the world)
• Sacred Time

My wife asked me why our professor was having us do this. After thinking about it, I answered “Because these four themes are the very things that have been forgotten by modern evangelical Christianity. These are things we need to re-learn.”

So, here are the 10 instructions which I will follow for the next 30 days:

1. Daily confess your sins, both intentional or unintentional, by writing them on paper and nailing the paper to a cross, acknowledging Christ as the ultimate sin offering, once for all.
2. Recite the Jesus Prayer 25 times as a guilt offering for each sin.
3. Eat food with only natural ingredients, including foods in their naturally occurring state and those with only natural additives.
4. Any contact with blood (from wounds) will resort in becoming ceremonially unclean. Ritual purification is accomplished through bathing.
5. Limit media consumption (TV, movies, music, internet) to content that would be pleasing to God.
   Holiness (as a Witness to the Nations)
6. Wear a cross on the outside of my clothes and a bracelet containing Deut. 6:5 (“Love the Lord your God…” on it.
7. Follow a vegetarian diet, abstaining from all meat.
8. Refrain from cutting my hair or shaving my beard.
9. Recite the Jewish Shema, Lord’s Prayer, and Apostles’ Creed in the morning and evening.
10. Observe the Sabbath on Sundays

I know it’s gonna be tough (I already had to shower after picking at a scab), but I am trusting that God will meet me in it.

God, may I develop a deeper understanding of my own sin, a higher appreciation of your holiness, and a sheer amazement at Christ’s work on the cross.