This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. (Exodus 12:11 NIV84)

As you read the instructions the Lord gives the Israelites, you can’t help but see a constant theme.  They were told to celebrate the Passover meal in haste.  They needed to have their sandals on.  They needed to have their staff in hand.  Their cloaks were to be tucked in and their belts tight.  They were told to eat like people who were leaving the next day.  Imagine what this meant for them.  As a people, they were enslaved for over 400 years to the Egyptians.  Generation after generation knew nothing different than enslavement.  They even experienced 9 plagues prior to this 10th one, but their eyes of sight would tell them that Pharaoh always changed his mind and, in the end, nothing really changes.  Let’s not miss that, for the Israelites, this was a complete act of faith.  They were told by God to eat that night as though tomorrow they were going to leave as a free people.  They were told to live today as though tomorrow would be different.

What an interesting thought!  Like the Israelites, aren’t we, too, called to live our lives on this earth as though we were leaving.  As redeemed children of God, we are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  We no longer belong or live according to the kingdom of this earth.  We dwell here, but this is not our home.  Peter says in his first letter, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a people for God’s own possession…”.  We have been set apart to be in the world, but not to be of the world.  Imagine what it would be like if we were to live out our lives as these Israelites did on the day of the Passover.  Imagine if we lived our  lives as though we were leaving for home.  I know it would make a tremendous difference in my life if I would live each day with my eyes set on the kingdom of God.

Let’s live everyday as though our tomorrow might be spent in the kingdom of heaven!

Peace!

Tom

www.firmlyrooted.org

I am available to speak to your church or organization.