God commands Moses to count everybody in the tribes of Israel. Easy task. He counts the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Judah... everybody's there. Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Manasseh... things are looking good. Benjamin, Dan, Asher... those will all be great names for people in the future, I'm sure Moses thought. Gad and Naphtali. All set!
What about Levi? Almost like the President was introducing his cabinet and forgot to introduce the Attorney General or the Secretary of Education. They're all important people!
But God says "Nay! You are not counted with the others because you are Holy. You are to be set apart for my tabernacle and its care. That's why you're not counted. You're not included not because you're not important, but because you're very important."
Cute old testament story, who cares, it doesn't apply to us. But the problem (and really the solution) is that it still does.
1 Peter 2:9: But you are not like that (a person meeting their own fate), for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
We are the Levites, living among a giant caravan of aliens in a distant land and somehow we have been set apart to share the goodness of God with others. But notice the condition! You being a royal priest is the condition, showing others the goodness of God is the RESULT (or, read cause and effect).
The result of not living up to your name? In the Levites' case, you don't do your job and people get killed (Read 1 Chronicles 13). Where are you not doing your job? Where are you not living up to your name? How are you not keeping yourself set apart, as according to the command of the Royal Priests?
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