The Israelites and I...

Ahhh, the Israelites. Just when I’m tempted to judge them for their chronic complaining, unbelief, and idolatry, I see my own face among the masses. Today I read Deuteronomy 11 where they are told to obey the command “to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (vs. 13). They are told that obedience to this command will result in God’s provision in watering their land, keeping it fertile, as well as military protection and victory. They are warned about the curse that will result from idolatry and disobedience. Like the Israelites, I am commanded to love God and serve Him today. It might look a bit different in my 21st century home. It may look like unloading and loading a dishwasher, or reading the last two chapters of The Matchlock Gun to the boys. It might look like praying for my grandmother, or inviting a baseball mom to church on Sunday. How amazing that these ordinary little acts can be expressions of love for God and service to Him today. Like the Israelites, I am tempted to be deceived by the lure of idolatry. It is more dangerous than setting up a little golden something or other in the kitchen because these idols are invisible and harder to detect. I can be cleaning a room of my house and be serving the idol of “order” and “productivity”, all the while neglecting the children I’m called to train. I can serve the idol of “comfort” and “ease” when I choose to read blogs over reading The Matchlock Gun. Idolatry is always at the door of my heart. This makes obedience to the command to love and to serve the Lord with all my heart and my soul very difficult…impossible except for the fact that… Unlike the Israelites, I can obey. Because God so loved the world, that He gave Jesus, His son, to die on the cross for my sins, I can now obey the command to love and serve Him. It is because Jesus loved and served first that we can now love and serve Him. What better catalyst to obedience is there than pondering the obedience of the Savior? What better motivation to love than beholding what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God! And what fuel for service surpasses considering the Son of Man not coming to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. Yes, my face is in the crowd of Israelites listening to the command to love and serve the Lord. But my face is also turned to my Savior today as I seek to obey Him here in 21st century Abingdon, MD. It is by His obedience to the command to love and serve the Father perfectly that I have hope today to seek to do the same.