August 18, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let\u2019s seek this ancient way together as a church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this chapter of Deuteronomy Moses emphasizes two things: the amazing grace of God and his demand of our exclusive worship. Moses makes it abundantly clear to the people of Israel that, although they are indeed chosen by God and holy unto Him, God did not choose them because of anything inherently good or righteous in them. He did not choose them because they were strong, but rather because they were weak; not because they were many, but because they were few. The bottom line is that God chose as He did because of His sovereign wisdom, His undeserved love, and to display His mighty power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isn\u2019t it just jaw-droppingly, awe-inspiringly wonderful to understand that you are the recipient of God\u2019s grace not because of anything you did or anything that you ever could do or be, but simply because He loves you? What was true of Israel is also true of us: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. He chose us simply to put His immense glory, wisdom, and power on display through us, merely because He chose to love us and pour out His unmerited favor on us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is at the core of the gospel itself, that God would move and act to save sinners through the blood of His Son simply because they are the objects of His divine affection and love. In response to this kind of radical, undeserved grace, God calls us to rid ourselves and our lives from everything and anything that competes with Him for our love, devotion, and worship! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as He called Israel to utterly destroy the people of the land along with all of their idols, He calls us to abhor and detest all things that set themselves up as idols in our hearts and give Him our exclusive worship! He is worthy of it, for all He has done and for who He is; give Him that worship today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n