Loving Obedience

Today's readings are from Deuteronomy 11, 12, 13

Reading through the Bible in one year is best done in daily steps. I remember the first time I tried reading through the entire scriptures; I would find the need to sit down and read several days at a time just to catch up, and it felt like the whole year was just trying to keep up to get through it all. It's a bit like fasting followed by overeating...not recommended. I say all of that for those who find themselves at times struggling to "catch up"...the key might be in leaving what you didn't read behind and just start anew...AND, that is the lesson out of the reading today.

Anything we do for God needs to be done out of loving obedience. The problem, as Moses so aptly describes in this reading, is that we lose focus and we are tempted to substitute faithfulness and loving obedience for expediency and cultural accommodation. His warning was to the Israelites to live with a sense of loving obedience to God, and not sucked up in the cultural morass that would be tempting when they entered the land.

We're not conquering in a physical sense; but in the spiritual sense we are still in spiritual warfare. The apostle Paul's reminder is needed:
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Steadfastness is a character quality of loving obedience, and humility is how that is walked out.

Peace