Can I tell you my new favourite Bible verse? It’s Leviticus 19:19: Do not wear clothing woven from two kinds of material.
Peter Graystone
I’m not joking! Since I realised what it means it has become full of meaning for me. Everything changed when I realised it isn’t a verse that condemns men like me who have a bit of Lycra in their cotton pants.
There is a similarly obscure verse about not sowing two different crops in one field. Is this something Christians should obey today? Should I throw away my offending underwear?
Everything becomes clear when someone explains to you why the rule was given in the first place. These rules are more significant for what they stood for than for their impact on life.
There were and are some things which just don’t mix. That applied to farming and to clothing, but more important than either was the fact that worship of the true God could never be mixed with praying to idols. In our age this Old Testament rule is not about clothing at all. It is about single-mindedness in the way we live out our faith. We too need a reminder in the 21st century that some things don’t mix.
As a Christian, your true home is in heaven. In heaven it will be effortless and easy to make good choices. While some swagger through the earth, making choices as if the planet is theirs to treat as they wish, Christians should spend their time here in a different way. Treat the earth like a responsible visitor. Don’t mix the ways of heaven with the worst of human instincts.
Men like me need to learn this, and the rule about mixing materials is a good reminder. We need to learn not to treat our workplaces, communities and circles of friends as if we are on a lad’s holiday in Faliraki, strutting around aggressively with a pint of lager slopping out of the glass, down our beetroot red arms, and on to our union jack boxer shorts. Instead we need to learn to act like an ambassador for our homeland in heaven, with the courtesy of someone who is in a strange land.
In all of life, behave in a way that will make those you meet think well of your heavenly home, enjoy your company, and feel that their life has been enriched by your presence.
There are a thousand verses like this in the Bible – full of meaning if only someone helps you work out how to bring that meaning forward through the centuries and apply it to the present day. In my book The Bare Bible: Uncovering the Bible for the First Time, I have tried to take the mystery out of those verses and make them zing straight home to your heart.
I do hope people will enjoy it. It’s full of fun as well as seriousness. But I also hope that every word in the world’s bestseller will come alive in a new way, because the Bible is a book I love and I want everyone to be able to share my enthusiasm.
