Working my way through Leviticus and, to be honest, there’s a lot of the commands-to-obey that don’t quite land with me. And I’m guessing it’s because they deal with the kind of stuff that was done in ancient Egypt, where the people of God used to live, or were practices they were to avoid in the ancient land of Canaan, where the people were gonna live. Don’t be like them, says the LORD (Lev. 18:1-3). Okay, that’s a principle I can noodle on.

But then, there are those commands-to-obey which do resonate. Commands with a direct line to where and how I live today. Especially those commands that deal with the people of God — commands relating to my people. Instructions on how God’s holy people are to be holy (Lev. 19:1-2). Commands pertaining to being one another’s brother, one another’s sister, one another’s neighbor (Lev. 19:9-18). And it’s one of those commands I’m chewing on this morning.

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.”

(Leviticus 19:17 ESV)

Reason frankly with your neighbor . . . That’s the command I’m hovering over.

Full disclosure . . . Of the translations I go to during morning devos, the ESV is the only translation which renders it this way. Most others render it “rebuke” or “reprove” your neighbor. Like the ESV, the NIV says it is to be done “frankly.” The NLT says, “Confront people directly.” Peterson feels the most ESV-esque with his rendering, “Get it out into the open” (MSG).

Reason or rebuke . . . confront or reprove . . . po-tay-to or po-tah-to . . . whatever the exact nuance, don’t hate in your heart. Don’t hold a grudge secretly. Don’t despise clandestinely. Instead, reason frankly. Get it out into the open.

The world around us is increasingly defined by nasty tribal allegiances. Tribes not defined just by what they’re for but just as much, if not more so, by what they’re against. Or, to employ a bit of hyperbole, defined by what they hate. And these worldly tribes have a tendency to hide behind social media posts spewing fractious rhetoric, rather than dealing with their differences out in the open, face to face, with frank reasoning.

And the world has a way of weaseling its way into the church, just as Egypt had shaped the Israelites and as Canaan would too, unless the people of God determined to act as the set apart people God had set them apart to be. That includes, I think, the world infiltrating the church with the leaven of tribalism and hidden animosity. Ways of Egypt unworthy of promised land living. Conduct in Canaan untenable for pilgrims looking for a city (Heb. 11:!4-16).

Instead, the people of God should be a people who are on guard against hidden heart bitterness and are marked as a people who reason frankly out in the open. Debating respectfully. Correcting gently. Living out conviction compassionately. Bearing ultimate allegiance to the kingdom of heaven only.

There shouldn’t be tribes among the people of God. And the absence of open discussion, the inability to have candid conversations, may be an indicator that we might be carrying more Egypt baggage than we should. That we’ve been more influenced by Canaan culture than is healthy for a holy people.

Instead, we should place a premium on loving one another, on being one with one another, as we seek to follow together the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Our unity not as a result of uniformity in thought or conviction, but as the fruit of the Spirit of God and as the evidence of the power of the gospel of grace. A unity manifest as we regard one another as brothers, as sisters, as neighbors and family. A oneness apparent, in part, because we’re people who can reason frankly.

Oh, to be such a people.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.