Title: Faith in Gender
Contents
I am the LORD your God. Sanctify yourselves also, for I am holy, and do not defile yourselves by the things that creep on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; be holy because I am holy. (Le 11:44-45)
The nation of Israel is a religious people. A distinctive feature of a religious nation is that they have a religious belief. It is the faith that sets apart among all things and makes it holy by offering it to God. The Sunday or the Sabbath was set apart as a day to be dedicated to God. By consecrating the first and the best among the objects, they consecrate the various instruments used in the temple, and among them, consecrate musical instruments that are used in worship and praise to God and offer them to God. Make it a holy instrument. The land is also set apart and dedicated to God, so that it is called holy land. They build a temple in the middle of the house and consecrate it to God. Even man, at the beginning, sets apart the first-born and dedicates it to God to distinguish him as holy. Aside from this ordinance, today we also dedicate this piano to God and make it holy as an instrument used to praise God. All of God's creations are holy, so you may ask yourself, "Why do we need to set this apart and make it holy?" Here's what I think about it.
We hope that today all kinds of musical instruments and music will be sanctified centering on the glory of God. May all of our time, all possessions, all life, thoughts, and actions be sanctified centered on God. The chains of the devil, the yoke of iniquity, and the slaves of our human flesh have been taken over. In the age of material abundance, we hope that our ownership, lifestyle, way of thinking, social system, and the whole of life will once again be altered and set apart by God's ownership and become holy. And I hope that the fruits of our generation will become a generation that does not even need to distinguish between the holy and the profane. And I hope that the hearts of our believers can see all things that do not need to cover holiness and inner things as holy, live holy lives, and enter the place of deep grace that makes them holy.