Numbers - The 12 Tribes.

A few weeks ago, I finished the book of Numbers. And as you know, it's pretty dull. For example, all of chapter 1 is a census of the 12 tribes of Israel. I'll be honest. I skipped all of it. However there was something unique about chapters 2 through 4.

In the first few chapters of Numbers, God tells Moses to take a census, assign land to each tribe, and give roles to each tribe. All 12 tribes of Israel had their own plot of land, and they did their own thing. But of course, they did everything according to God's laws and decrees. As long as they didn't disobey those laws, they glorified God. Basically, all the people of Israel lived normal lives while glorifying God.

I'm not a theologian or anything, but I assume that the majority of the Israelite people were farmers, shepherds, moms and dads, soldiers, and other normal things. The minority of the Israelite people were the "holy" people who were the Levites.

The Levites were the chosen people to be priests of the holy tabernacle. If you think about it, they were like the pastors, missionaries, and preachers of today's time. So from my analysis, the majority of God's people were normal/average people while a small minority were special/chosen/holy people.

This lead me to the thought of our roles as Christians in today's society. Not everyone is going to be a pastor, missionary, or preacher. The majority of us will be normal/average people. Now if you're reading this and think that this is an excuse to not go into seminary, then you got it all wrong. You may or may not be called to be a "Levite". What I'm saying is that there are many parts of society that need average/normal Christians.

If we all became pastors, then who would we preach to? The point goes back to how all the average/normal Israelite people glorified God and obeyed His commands in their everyday lives. In the same way, we should be glorifying God and ministering to the people in the lives we live.

Just because you're not a missionary, pastor, or preacher doesn't mean you can't live for God. Even the Old Testament shows how the normal/average Israelite people lived for God as farmers, shepards, moms and dads, etc. 

That means you can glorify God as a businessperson, doctor, musician, artist, writer, teacher, etc. But be sure to be wise in prayer and scripture to see what you're really called to do for His Kingdom's sake.