Don't cut growth

My hair's grown a lot since the summer. Right now it's about two and a half inches lower than my collarbone.

God's been highlighting a few things lately to me about Nazarites. They're basically people who've made a decision in their life to be all the way for God - in every way they can be. There's a few rules that I always thought were rather random and a bit strange...

1/ Can't cut your hair. Personally, I'm a fan of a nice long hairdo, but I always thought this was a strange rule. What does not cutting your hair have to do with your commitment to God? It's this... it's about growth. God doesn't want us to forget the growth, what we've been through and the victories received. They're our testimonies and are worthy to remember. It's remembering what God has done in, for and through us in the past that reminds our spirits who He is and what He can do. We're our own best example of victories received.

2/ Don't drink alcohol. Though I love a nice glass of red wine, I could understand this one. Overdoing it with anything that would alter your state of mind isn't good, but what about all the other activities that numb, or alter our state of being - body, soul and spirit. It's not about the alcohol - it's about anything that would take the place of the Holy Spirit's gentle leading in our lives. What does that look like? It's it video games, music, food, social relationships... what's your "alcohol"? What's in your life that allows you to check out, numb out or even deaden yourself?

3/ Don't touch dead people. This one was the weirdest. How random, right? How many dead people do you go around touching on a daily basis? I would have continued to think it random except God's been teaching me a lot about this, just coming from another angle. Ok, example: I'm not eating meat right now. I have nothing against eating meat - God's just called me to give it up for a time and I'm starting to actually like not having it in my life. He asked me to give it up about a month ago and I wasn't sure why... I just agreed and said goodbye to eating meat. About 20 days into it at a very random moment I heard this, "Don't partake of what was once alive, but is now dead". At the time He was specifically referring to music, but in processing this and allowing it to sink in I realized it's so much more than music. How much do we partake of (or touch) that was meant for life, but somehow ended up dead? Man was God's greatest creative project. He meant man for life and not death, however, when sin (separation from God) entered the world, so did death. Man has the power to create and his creations will flow out of the nature of his heart... in life or in death.

Anyway, that's my little revelation on being a Nazarite.