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Outside the Camp
by Jerry Ousley Ah the great outdoors! There's nothing like it. It was more years ago than I'd like to admit and we were camping with some friends. Now folks, this was the only time in my life that I did anything like this, but I decided that weekend that I wasn't going to bathe, wash up, shave, or change my clothes. I suppose I wanted to experience what it was like to be a pioneer explorer back in the early days of our country. It was in the hot summertime so the days demanded a certain amount of perspiration. I've got to tell you that before the end of that three day weekend our friends and my wife were tired of me. I took a few sniffs and immediately knew why. Deb told me that if I didn't do something about it that I'd be sleeping outside the camp that last night. She was absolutely right! Thank the good Lord above that I had brought along an extra change of clothing, so I took an hour and washed up, shaved and changed clothes. Man, I actually felt human again! And it saved me a frigid night trying to get some sleep outside the camp! Old Testament law demanded that certain people and things be taken outside the camp. The LORD dwelt in the camp and the people were required to be holy (at least as holy as humanly possible) and so lepers were forced to live outside the confines of the camp along with any who were considered temporarily unclean. Also, the carcasses of dead animals, and what was left over from the sacrifices was disposed of outside the camp. The writer of Hebrews made an interesting observation about our Lord, Jesus Christ based on this practice. In Hebrews 13:11-13 we read, "For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach." In other words Golgotha was located outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem. So Jesus was crucified for us outside the camp. Then we are told to go out to Him. The point I'd like to make with this teaching is that we are to go outside the camp. We might not be a leper, but there are lepers (spiritually speaking) out there. Because of the blood of Jesus Christ we might not be considered unclean but there are unclean individuals out there. That's where Jesus has gone and we are to follow Him out the gates. To put this into present time, often we get comfortable sitting in our padded pews in our climate controlled buildings and we don't want to take our service for Christ outside the confines of this atmosphere. We sing the praises of the King, and listen to wonderful teaching from the Bible but then we leave and go back to our own lives, jobs and occupations. When do we go outside the camp? We also get bogged down with the way things are supposed to be done. We have our routines and practices. There are channels we believe that we must go through to accomplish something. But when we think like that we are limiting ourselves to the confines of the camp. Jesus wasn't afraid to go outside the camp. When He met lepers He didn't avoid them. He heard their cries, "Unclean, unclean." But He went right up to them without fear or regard that He might contract the deadly and dreaded disease, spoke with them and healed them. He made them clean again. He wasn't afraid to eat with those considered to be sinners. Often He was criticized for His actions. Still He went outside the camp; outside the normal practice and routine, and reached out to those in need. It's nice that we can have a beautiful place to worship. It's not a sin to have a comfortable place to hear the Gospel preached. But we must begin thinking outside the box outside the camp when it comes to winning souls for Christ. What do you think can we open the door and venture out? Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |