Why read Leviticus?!?

I have read the book of Leviticus many times, and probably like most other Christians, when I get to this book I tend to just skim through, skip a chapter here and a chapter there. I mean it isn’t like we are actually responsible for all these sacrifices and commands anymore; so what is the point of reading through the book? However, God promises his Word will not return void and this promise includes the book of Leviticus! To my surprise and delight, I found as I read through Leviticus this time, I felt differently about it. When I changed my attitude about the book, God used it to provoke and challenge me as He does with every other book in the Bible.
There are so many things that I read in Leviticus that God used to challenge my thinking and actions; however, I will only share the most prominent one. I first came across it in Leviticus 10:3, “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.” Then, in Leviticus 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Lastly, Leviticus 20:7-8 says, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statues, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” These verses address two key things. First, God is holy and we need to view Him that way; and second, we need to imitate His holiness so that He is manifest in our own life. In the first verse, God stressed the importance of regarding Him as holy and glorifying Him. I think that too often Christians (specifically myself) become desensitized to the holiness of God. We serve a holy God! Because we serve a holy God, we need to honor, glorify, and exalt Him as such. Furthermore, in the other verses previously mentioned it says that we need to apply that holiness to our own life. In the book Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges offers as the definition of holiness: “Living a life of conformity to the Bible, and in contrast to the world,”—a life that is characterized by “putting of the old self and putting on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness.” I know that I often fail to live that way, but I need to live it daily.
There really are many lessons that can be learned from Leviticus, and I know that I have barely touched the surface. However, throughout the course of reading Leviticus during the past week, if nothing else, this command for holiness has hit home. Be holy! I need to learn to view God as He is, a holy God; and I need to approach Him as such. Then, I need to live in a way that is contrary to the world—a way in which I put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness!