Coffee and a Bible: A Reader's Companion to the Book of Leviticus. Blogging the Bible, #3

I'm on a mission to blog through the entire Bible. Would you join me?As a minister for over 20 years, I've sat across countless tables from people who have struggled to understand the Bible. "It's too hard" or "I don't see it" or "It's not for me" are usually the things I hear the most. I get it. So many commentaries and books are written not for the everyman, but for the academic who piles through book after book to parse Greek words and uncover some abstract theory.
If you think that's what Bible study is about, you're in the wrong place. My goal is to help as many people as I can appreciate the simplicity and beauty in God's written Word. Every book in Coffee and a Bible Reader's Companion series is designed to take you through the Bible as if you and I were having a conversation. We'll read a little, then when we come to a part that makes us stop, we'll talk about it.
That's the idea. In Leviticus, the focus is not on freeing the Israelite nation, but shaping it. Long seen as nothing more than a book of Laws, the book of Leviticus shows how God intervenes on every tiny aspect of Jewish life, but He also reveals how applicable each one of those laws and notes are to their identity. The major emphasis in this book is on holiness--a theme repeated throughout the New Testament.
Even though we don't live according to the laws in Leviticus anymore, we can still take a lot away from seeing just how much God expects from us. If we're going to be His people, we need to live like it. As with every book in the Bible Companion series, the point is to slow down and go deep into the Text. I believe firmly that real spiritual growth comes not just from reading the Word of God, but digesting it slowly.
Reading, meditating, thinking, applying--those are the bedrocks of Christian growth. I can't wait to walk through Leviticus with you. Let's get started!