Do you want to be a Levite?

If you lived in the days of Moses would you have wanted to be a Levite? Or would you have been glad that your life had not been "relegated" to serve others at the Tent of Meeting?
During the exodus from Egypt the Lord preserved all the firstborn in Israel who had applied the blood to their doorposts and lintel. All those in Egypt who failed to come under the blood lost their firstborn. But in God's economy what He redeems, He owns. If His blood delivers you from death, then you are His. You have been bought with a price.
This is evident from the way the Lord speaks in verse 17. "For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,..."
But instead of taking all the firstborn, the Lord instituted something different. He took a whole tribe of Israel and set them aside instead of taking everyone's firstborn. The Levites became His, and were assigned a role on behalf of the people.
And what was their role to be? Well, the text makes it very clear in verse 19. "And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary."
The role of the Levites was to serve. Daily they gave their lives for the good of others. They offered sacrifices to make atonement (covering) for the sins of the people. This was essential for maintaining a proper relationship with the holy God who dwelt in their midst. They also got to spend their days wholly devoted to the Lord. Every day was a day spent near the Tent of Meeting realizing that their life and service was fully the Lord's.
So what do you think? Would you want to have been a Levite? As you think about their role you can begin to see that rather being something to which they were "relegated", their calling was actually a privilege.
It is, in fact, not all that different from the privilege that all believers have. We, like the Levites, have been bought with a price. Christ's blood has delivered us from sin and death. Now we are not our own. We are wholly the Lord's and are to be given fully to His service. We, like the Levites, can spend every day near the Tent of Meeting, for, in fact our bodies are that Tent of Meeting, where the Spirit of God resides. We, too, have the privilege of serving others - offering prayers on their behalf, representing the hands and feet of Jesus, proclaiming with our mouths the salvation that can be theirs in Christ. We who are in Christ indeed have a privileged position not all that unlike the Levites.
As we go out today, let us rejoice in the Lord's goodness to us. Let us remember we are His to serve His purposes and His people. And let us remember that as we serve others, God will not overlook our service which is really an expression of love to our Lord. As it says in Hebrews 6:10 "For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do."