The Difference Between Sacred and Common

You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean. (Leviticus 10:10) The priest’s job was to teach people this basic religious distinction. “Sacred” (holy) applies to what belongs to God, “clean” to what is fit for Him. Things “unholy” and “unclean” are unfit for God’s presence. With the understanding of a priest’s job as stated above, and reflecting upon what Peter writes in 1st Peter 2:9 that we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…” we must understand the practical implication of Leviticus 10:10 in our daily lives. Every single waking moment, we are called to “distinguish” (recognize) the difference between things that are holy and things that are “common” (not set apart). I’m going to tell you that sometimes we take the “common” and pretend it to be “sacred” like our cable TVs during primetime on a stormy night. Conversely, there are things that are “holy” that we take for “common” like church services on Sundays. In the end, we have to make the right distinction between the sacred and common because that is what we are called to do, and if we are not carefully examining these things we will mistake one for the other and live a life of folly. Long story short, not being able to distinguish or distinguishing poorly will lead to the wrong decisions, and consequently the wrong life. The question then is, what bar do we use to distinguish the sacred and common if the only thing distinguishing the two is a blurred line between them? There are very few areas of life that are purely black and white, and most decisions that need to be made about sacred and common are generally grey to begin with. The distinguishing happens between making a decision of whether something/someone/some event is ceremonially clean or unclean. Simply put: is it fit for God and His purposes and His glory? When we decide that something or event is fit for God, His purposes and His glory, then we distinguish that which is holy. This is an activity that must be done over and over, intentionally and discerningly so as to fulfill our duty as a priesthood chosen for God’s possession. How are you distinguishing the sacred and the common?