“What sets us apart as belonging to the Lord lies below the surface; but others won’t know we belong to the Lord if it doesn’t rise to the surface.”
Deuteronomy 14:1-2
(1) Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
(2) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Explanation
The word holy means “to be set apart.” The people of Israel were “set apart” to God: they were His people.
“The Israelites were not only to suffer no idolatry to rise up in their midst, but in all their walk of life to show themselves as a holy nation of the Lord; and neither to disfigure their bodies by passionate expressions of sorrow for the dead (Deu_14:1 and Deu_14:2), nor to defile themselves by unclean food (vv. 3-21). Both of these were opposed to their calling.”
Keil & Delitzsch, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, e-sword ver. 11.1.0
How we present ourselves to others is entry-level representation of our relationship to God.
Photo by Karen Carkhuff, ginsengphotography.squarespace.com
Nathan M. McConnell 