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Being Cool Is Never A Blessable Motive

For The Glory Of God Alone Is

SYNOPSIS: When our motive for doing anything is because it is cool by the world standards, perhaps the case could be made that we are bowing to man-made idols. When God goes to such great lengths to pull his people out of their heathen culture in order to make them into his own holy nation, a people that stand out in the world as distinctly belonging to him and distinctly different than the world, why would they then revert to worldly ways? Why walk as close to the edge of worldliness without stepping over into it instead of pressing into the core of holiness unto the Lord. Why not press into the center of God’s will, which looks more like Jesus and less like the world?

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (Living Bible)

Since you are the people of God, never cut yourselves as the heathen do when they worship their idols nor shave the front halves of your heads for funerals. You belong exclusively to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you to be his own possession, more so than any other nation on the face of the earth.

To be forthcoming, I have never had either purple hair or a Mohawk. I don’t have any piercings. And I have never seriously entertained the notion of a tattoo—although if I were ever brave enough to get one, I would consider the iconic “Mother” tat embedded within a sailor’s anchor. (You probably have to be of a certain age to appreciate that!)

I don’t have any of those and don’t really want to, but just to be clear, neither do I have anything per se against quirky hair, body piercings, and tattoos that rival Michelangelo’s work. Some people can pull it off; I would look like a doofus. I know plenty of amazing people who have some or all of the above, whose Christian character and kingdom impact is without question.

So what’s the point? I simply want to get you to think about the verses I selected where God prohibits the Israelites from either getting a body piercing or their hair cut in some kind of weird style. Similarly in Leviticus 19:28, God told his people never to get tattoos or engage in cutting: ‘You shall not cut yourselves nor put tattoo marks upon yourselves in connection with funeral rites; I am the Lord.” Now it would be fair to protest that this prohibition is only in the context of funerals, but I believe the clear sense here is that if God didn’t like it under those circumstances, he probably didn’t approve of it under normal conditions. You can disagree with me on that, but that is how I see it.

Obviously, many believers don’t see it as I do. In today’s world, a growing number of them do all of the above—attention-getting hairdos, very obvious tattoos, cutting, and more piercings than you can shake a stick at. But I don’t think that is the main point here; it is not so much the activity that we should focus on, it is the motive: “As the heathen do.” Most other Bible versions have translated it, “Since you are the people of the Lord your God.” Either way, the message is clear: you belong to God, not to the world. So don’t copy what you see around you.

When our motive for doing anything is because it is cool by the world standards, perhaps the case could be made that we are bowing to man-made idols. When God went to such great lengths to pull his people out of their heathen culture in order to make them into his own holy nation, a people that would stand out in the world as distinctly belonging to him and distinctly different than the world, why would they then revert to worldly ways? Why would they take on patterns and behaviors of the sin-filled culture from which they had been rescued? Why would they admire the latest style or trend or hip factor from the nations that were hostile to God? Why go along to get along? Why walk as close to the edge of worldliness without stepping over into it instead of pressing into the core of holiness unto the Lord.

That, I believe, is the main thing here—what we ought to consider as we seek a relevant application from this passage. Why live on the edge of sin? Why not press into the center of God’s will? Now let me also quickly add that if you are a believer who already has one of the things mentioned above, don’t sweat it. God starts with where you are and then moves you down the road to Christlikeness. Just make sure in the journey forward from today your motive is to be more and more like Jesus.

Now for old school Christians who tend to look in disdain on a younger generation that expresses itself with piercings, tattoos, and purply-spiked hair, how about what we do to keep up with the Joneses? What about needing to drive the latest car we can’t afford or having more square footage in our house than a Roman legion required or getting the latest $800 iPhone when the one we have is barely six months old? Do we do exactly what we accuse the young and restless of doing? Is there really all that much difference?

Again, my point in this devotional take on Deuteronomy 14 is simply to get us to consider where we may be flirting with culture rather than striving for greater Christlikeness. The next time you see someone sporting some sort of body art that you don’t appreciate, take a good, long look at your own motives. Perhaps, in that moment, the Holy Spirit is calling you to a closer walk with Jesus.

That is God’s goal for you, by the way: that you would look more and more like Jesus while looking less and less like the world.

Going Deeper: Here is a hard but good prayer to offer to your Lord today: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

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What’s In God’s Wallet?

The Bible In One Verse

SYNOPSIS: John 3:16 is the whole Bible in just one verse. There’s not a simpler, yet more profound truth in the Bible than this: God loved the whole world so much that he gave his Son to die for it. But that is not just some moving statement of God’s universal love; it is also a profound declaration of his personal love for you. Said another way, God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // 1 John 3:1

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us it that it did not know him.

The man who penned this heartwarming verse arguably understood the love of God better than any other human being. It was John the beloved, the Apostle of love. Of course, he was also the author of the most well-known, well-loved verse in the entire Bible—John 3:16,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

That is the whole Bible in just one verse. There’s not a simpler, yet more profound truth in the Bible than this: God loved the whole world so much that he gave his Son to die for it. But that is not just some moving statement of God’s universal love; it is also a profound declaration of his personal love for you. St. Augustine, the 4th century North African Bishop, one of the most influential figures in church history, purportedly said it this way,

“God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.”

Did you realize that if you were the only person on this planet, God would’ve loved you so much that he still would have given Jesus to die for your sins? There would still be John 3:16 if you were the sole human being ever created. Max Lucado wrote an entire book just on that one verse called “3:16”. Here is how he put it,

“If God had a wallet, your photo would be in it.”

I don’t know if you really get this or not—and I pray that somehow, somewhere it becomes reality to you, perhaps even before you finish reading this blog, or maybe as you memorize and reflect on this verse. But the truth is, God has a crazy, inexplicable, unreasonable love for you! He really does.

Karl Barth was one of the most brilliant and complex theologians of the twentieth century, writing volume after volume on the meaning of life and faith. A reporter once asked Dr. Barth if he could summarize what he had said in all those volumes. Barth thought for a moment and then said:

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

That’s the whole of God’s truth in a single phrase. Lean into that today—you are the object of his lavish love; you are Abba’s favored child. That is what you are!

Reflect & Apply: Peruse Ephesians 1-2 and make a list of all the things that God has lavished on you through Jesus Christ. Your list should have at least 10 “spiritual blessings” on it.

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You Are Not Your Own

Don't Cheapen The Purchase Price Of Your Salvation

SYNOPSIS: You are not your own. Like the Israelites who were bought with the Passover blood out of their Egyptian slavery, you have been bought out of slavery to sin with an inconceivably and incomparably high price—the precious blood of Jesus: “You were bought at a price.” (1 Cor 7:23) You were bought; someone died for your freedom from sin. God caused his Son’s execution to secure your redemption. How do you think that makes God feel when you cheapen the price of your redemption by becoming enslaved sin again? Hard to hear? I know! A bit harsh? Of course! Yet how great the jealous love of God for you that he would execute the penalty of death for your spiritual infidelity—upon his Son!

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 13:4-5

You must never worship any God but Jehovah; obey only his commands and cling to him. The prophet who tries to lead you astray must be executed, for he has attempted to foment rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. By executing him you will clear out the evil from among you.

If you have been reading through the first five books of the Bible, what is known as the Pentateuch, or the Books of Moses, by now you are accustomed to how severely God deals with spiritual rebellion. You may not like it, you may not understand it, you may have difficulty squaring this “mean” side of God with your twentieth century concept of a loving, merciful deity. You may prefer the New Testament “Father” to the Old Testament “Judge.”

So what do you do with a chapter like this in which God demands death to those who lead his people into spiritual apostasy? And not just any old death, the one who is guilty is to be summarily executed. They are to be stoned—one of the most brutal forms of death imaginable: “Stone him to death because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 13:10) Furthermore, the one who is responsible to report the breach of religious fidelity—and make no mistake, this chapter makes it clear that no one can turn a blind eye to this kind of rebellion—is to literally throw the first rock: “Do not spare that person from the penalty; don’t conceal his horrible suggestion. Execute him! Your own hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, then the hands of all the people.” (Deuteronomy 13:8-9)

Sidebar: Interestingly, in the New Testament, Jesus had something to say about casting the first stone, didn’t he! Only those who were without sin were qualified to take such action—which obviously meant that no one would ever qualifiy to throw out the first pitch. So was Jesus correcting his Father’s overreaction to spiritual infidelity? Not at all. Rebellion against a holy and just God demanded his full wrath—death: “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) The problem was, every human being was guilty and therefore deserving of execution: “For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standards.” (Romans 3:23) If God executed justice as he should, no one would live. That is the whole point of the gospel: Jesus paid the death penalty for us by dying on the cross in our place: “For he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’” (1 Peter 2:24) Truly, this is the Good News: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23)

Thank God for the grace—God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense—that delivers me from the wages I deserve to get. But that still leaves us with this chapter and what seems like an inflexible, draconian, brutal side of God. For sure, God’s ruling is a drastic response to sin. But think about what this means: God redeemed the Israelites out of slavery and made them his very own people: “the Lord your God…brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 13:10) God redeemed them, that is, he bought them at a high price, which, among other things, meant thousands of Egyptian firstborn sons died in place of the Israelites. (Read Exodus 11-13) God purchased them with blood, so the Israelites were not their own—they belonged to God. He had every right to jealously guard their fidelity to him. Setting aside our inability to comprehend the inconceivably high demand of spiritual infidelity, what we can comprehend is that God is fiercely protective of the loyalty of our hearts toward him.

Here’s the deal: Not only the Israelites, but neither are you your own. You, too, have been bought out of slavery with an inconceivably and incomparably high price—the precious blood of Jesus Christ: “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies…. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23) You were bought; someone died for your freedom from sin. God caused his Son’s execution for your freedom. How do you think that makes him feel when you cheapen the price of your redemption by flirting with sin?

Dramatic, yes. Hard to hear, I know. Inflexible, of course. Yet how great the jealous love of God for you that he would still execute the penalty of death for your spiritual infidelity…upon his Son!

You are not your own—and that is scary good!!

Going Deeper: Memorize 1 Peter 2:24 this week. Then quote it each day in a prayer of gratitude for Christ’s redeeming grace.

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Everybody Ought To Go To Church

You Can't Edify Others If You Avoid Them

SYNOPSIS: We were made for each other, we need each other, and others need us. Why do you think we are called the body of Christ or the family of God? Why do you think each one of us was given gifts of the Spirit as salvation? Those gifts are meant for use as we edify one another. How in the world can we love each other, serve one another, lay down our lives for one another, and walk in unity with one another if we are not in a physical place with one another? When we neglect going to church, the world will not be able to know that we are his disciples by our love for one another.

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 12:4-5, 8-11

You must not make sacrifices to your God just anywhere, as the heathen sacrifice to their gods. Rather, you must build a sanctuary for him at a place he himself will select as his home…. You will no longer go your own way as you do now, everyone doing whatever he thinks is right; (for these laws don’t go into effect until you arrive in the place of rest the Lord will give to you). But when you cross the Jordan River and live in the Promised Land, and the Lord gives you rest and keeps you safe from all your enemies, then you must bring all your burnt sacrifices and other offerings to his sanctuary, the place he will choose as his home.

In full disclosure, I am a pastor. I love the church—not just the living organism, but the organizational structure. I love the place where the body of Christ comes together, and I place a high value on its importance to the health of the believer, the witness of the spiritual community and the authentic worship of God. Now let me hasten to add that I also believe that the place can be not only a traditional church building, but the church can meet in a home, an office, a coffee shop or under a tree. Wherever two or more come together in Christ’s name, and there is intentional discipleship, employment of the Spirit’s gifts, fellowship, witness to the lost, worship of God and missionality, there the church can thrive in a God-pleasing way.

I love the church! And I think everybody ought to go to a central place with other believers to be in church. Of course, we are the church! But there is also a place we call the church, and even though tabernacle/temple laws have changed from the Jewish Scriptures as God transitioned his covenant to the new community in the Christian scriptures, there is still a place for the central location of gathering.

I know that rubs against the grain of a growing number of believers who think they can be Christian without going to church, but I strongly disagree. Of course, you don’t go to church to be a believer, but you should go to church because you are a believer. Why? Clearly, it was important enough to God that he warned his people against a lackadaisical, wili-nili, do-whatever-you-want approach to central worship. He warned them that taking such an approach would lead to undisciplined and unaccountable worship that would drift into worship that was more man-focused than God-centered.

When God destroys the nations in the land where you will live, don’t follow their example in worshiping their gods. Do not ask, ‘How do these nations worship their gods?’ and then go and worship as they do! You must not insult the Lord your God like that! (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)

Think I am stretching the interpretation of that statement to fit my own appeal for church attendance? Go back and read the chapter in context. That is precisely what the Lord is warning his people will happen if they wander in their worship from the central place of sacrifice. A believer neglecting the physical place of worship is a believer who cares more about their preferences than God’s prescription for worship that honors him. Frances Havergal was right: “An avoidable absence from church is an infallible evidence of spiritual decay.”

There is a further reason for gathering with other believers in a physical location. Christianity, just as is true of Judaism, is communal as much as, if not more than it is individual. We were made for each other, we need each other, and others need us. Why do you think we are called the body of Christ and the family of God? Why do you think each one of us was given gifts of the Spirit at salvation? Those gifts are meant for use as we edify one another. How in the world can we love each other, serve one another, lay down our lives for one another, and walk in unity with one another if we are not in a place with one another? When we neglect the central place of worship, the world will not be able to know that we are his disciples by our love for one another.

I could go on and on with this one, but let me just say it again—as clearly, strongly and unapologetically as I know how: everybody, and that includes you, ought to go to church. And make it early and often, why don’t you!

Going Deeper: Go to church this week, and then again the next week. And when you are there, think about how pleasing that is to the Lord of the church.

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What God Wants—And Deserves

You’re Reason for Being

SYNOPSIS: A.W. Tozer said, “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” An everlasting preoccupation—that’s what worship is. That’s your highest purpose, your very reason for being. The Westminster Confession and Catechisms, written in the mid 1600’s as a tool for studying doctrine, asks and answers 196 theological questions. The very first question is this: What is the chief and highest end of man? And the answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever. That is why you exist:  To worship God and enjoy him forever! Today, and each day hereafter, make sure you are fulling your rai·son d’ê·tre—you reason for being!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Isaac Watts was a prolific author, writing over 50 books, more than half on theology. He is best remembered, however, for his hymns, writing over 700. Even today, three centuries after he died, most hymnals have at least twenty of his songs.  It is said that as Watts was dying he was reciting one of his favorites: “I’ll Praise My Maker While I Breathe.”  Isaac Watts was captivated by the worship of God.

God has created us with a tremendous capacity, as well as a duty, to worship him. He wants—and deserves—that we, too, would praise our Maker while we breathe.

Victor Hugo said of his pastor: “He didn’t just study God, he was dazzled by him.” That is want God wants—and deserves—from us: To be dazzled by him.

A.W. Tozer said, “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.”  An everlasting preoccupation—that’s what worship is. That’s our highest purpose, our very reason for being. The Westminster Confession and Catechisms, written in the mid 1600’s as a tool for studying doctrine, asks and answers 196 theological questions. The very first question is this: What is the chief and highest end of man? And the answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

That is why we were created:  To worship God and enjoy him forever…

To be agents of praise…
To be dazzled by his being…
To be captivated by his presence…
To be everlastingly preoccupied with worship!

That’s why you and I must fight to maintain, or perhaps reclaim, a Biblical understanding and a right experience of worship as God wants—and deserves—in our lives and our church. Paul is urging that in Romans 12:1,

“I appeal to you therefore, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”  (Amplified)

Did you catch that?  You and I must purpose to offer our whole life to God. Not just lip service, but life service. God-pleasing worship is more than inspired music and enthusiastic singing; it means bringing everything we are and everything we have to God in a joyful recognition of his mercy. William Barclay gave one of the best definitions of worship I’ve ever come across when he wrote,

True worship is the offering to God of one’s body, and all that one does every day with it. Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to him, not something transacted in a church, but something which sees the whole world as the temple of the living God. As Whittier wrote: ‘“For he whom Jesus loved hath truly spoken: The holier worship which he deigns to bless, Restores the lost, and binds the spirit broken, And feeds the widow and the fatherless.” A man may say, “I am going to church to worship God,” but he should also be able to say, “I am going to the factory, the shop, the office, the school, the garage, the locomotive shed, the mine, the shipyard, the field, the byre, the garden, to worship God.”

We are not just to honor and worship God with our words on Sundays only, but also with our entire existence in all we do from Monday through Saturday. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

That means how we rest, play, handle money, feed our minds, care for our bodies and engage relationally is all worship! Whether it’s the fruit of our lips on Sunday or the fruit of our lives on Monday, the kind of worship that pleases God means we must always bring our “A game” and place it before God “… as a living sacrifice…” It’s the least—and best—we can do. It’s what God wants—and deserves!

That’s what God wants—and deserves—the sacrificial surrender of our everyday lives to him in worship.

We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal. (J.I. Packer)

Reflect & Apply: Stop at the very first word of chapter 12: “Therefore”.  Whenever you come to a “therefore” in the Bible, you ought to ask yourself, “what is it there for?” What Paul goes on to say in these first two verses comprises what is arguably the most important duty of all true Christ-followers: The offering of our everyday life to God as our only and reasonable act of worship. “Therefore” …what is the basis of this call to Christian duty? Hint: Go back to the previous verse, Romans 11:36.  Read and reflect on what that verse means for your life.

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Reject Any Other Definition Of Love But This

Love For God Is Spelled O.B.E.D.I.E.N.C.E

SYNOPSIS: The Bible makes it plain that the chief expression of love is obedience to God’s commands. Let me say it again: love is obedience, and the pre-eminent characteristic of authentic discipleship is love! So just what does love look like? It looks like obeying God. Jesus, who wrote the book on authentic love—both in written form and on the pages of his life, said “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.” (John 14:15) O-B-E-Y! That’s how you spell love. Our love for God does for God. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That’s the condition of true love: it loves through unrelenting and unconditional obedience.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 11:22

Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.

Are you, like me, sick and tired of the world’s definition of love and hate? When I say “the world,” I am referring to anything and anyone that stands in opposition to God as he has revealed himself and his ways in his Word. That would include our godless culture in general along with specific people both great and small within our culture who, intentional or not, promote a godless philosophy of life. And, I hate to admit, “the world,” at times even includes you and me because of the worldly passions within our own sinful flesh.

The world has corrupted the true and authentic definition of love, as well as hate, beyond recognition. Hate has become anything that rubs against the fur of what the world embraces. For instance, if you now call sin what it is, sin, you are marginalized and mocked as an intolerant, dangerous, bigoted hater. You are hate personified! But let’s set aside hate and simply talk about love. The world has really messed that one up, too!

The world’s definition of love is a sloppy, squishy, anything goes kind of feeling of affection. It is ever-changing, here today and gone tomorrow, this one minute, that the next, a sensation that rises and falls with one’s current emotional state. Love is whatever satisfies me and gives me pleasure. It is a patently selfish worldview that “loves” to the degree that love is requited. It is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately state of mind. And it is flat out wrong, counterproductive and even dangerous.

Ask a thousand different people for their concept of love and you will most likely get a thousand different depictions, but unless God’s Word informs those depictions of love, they will be wrong 100% of the time. The Bible makes it plain that the chief expression of love is obedience to God’s commands. Let me say it again: love is obedience. What does love look like? It looks like obeying God. Jesus, who wrote the book on authentic love—both in written form and on the pages of his life, said “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.” (John 14:15, MSG)

In an age where love is a very squishy concept, God still clearly demands that those who claim to follow him demonstrate their love not just in language, but in action. It is love that is not just a noun, it is a verb. A noun needs a verb as well as an object to tell the full story, and so does love. What love is cannot be told without showing what love does. And what love does is incomplete without the person to whom it is done.  The Apostle Paul taught that in 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, when he wrote, “love is…” Then he defines what “love is” by demonstrating what love does: It acts. It works. It affects. It produces an outcome.

Jesus clearly states that the outcome of love for God is obedience: The one who loves him will obey his commandments. If they accept his demands, they will prove it by obedience to those requirements, thus authenticating their love for him. They will do what he says. Jesus can’t be any clearer than that: love for God has conditions—it obeys.

Now to be sure, authentic, Biblically defined love doesn’t obey to be love; it obeys because it is love. That is very clear when you look to the source of love, the Being who defines what love is by demonstrating what love does. God is love. His love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects to love. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being; it is energy of what God does. It is the outcome of where God has been and is. God is love—not just love the noun, but love the verb. Love does!

Your love for God, and mine, if it is to be true, is not just love the noun, but love the verb; and verb is spelled o-b-e-y! Your love for God does for God. It obeys. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That is the condition of true love: it loves through unrelenting and unconditional obedience.

If anyone defines love other than in that way, reject it. It might be well intentioned, but it is totally misguided. Rather, embrace obedience to God—that is love!

Going Deeper: God desires your wholehearted love today. And the best way you can express that is by obeying him. So where is he calling you to obey?

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Proof of Love: What You Do For Orphans, Widows and Immigrants

Your Theology Is Fleshed Out In How Your Treat People You Know—And Don't Know

SYNOPSIS: John Bunyan (famous for writing, The Pilgrim’s Progress) said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Actually, that’s what both testaments of the Bible say; both the law of God and the grace of God call for it. Your love of God is to be fleshed out among those people you know, and even the ones you don’t know. It is to be exemplified especially among those the community would tend to marginalize—the least of these, as Jesus would call them. The gracious and merciful love that God extended to you is to be extended in the same way through you to the most vulnerable—orphans, widows and immigrants. Yep, you show your love for God by showing his love to others, especially the least of these.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 16-20

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? … Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him.

It’s actually quite uncomplicated. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get it; it is so simple even a caveman could figure it out. In fact, God himself spelled it out in very plain language. What am I talking about? Following him.

Simple—not easy—but simple. Do this and you will prosper. Do this and you will be satisfied. Do this and you will be safe and secure. Do this and you will live.

It is not easy because there is an unholy trinity that opposes it at every split second and in ever square inch of your existence—the world, the devil and the flesh. Whatever is tainted by sin will stand in rebellion against what God demands. That is why you and I struggle with it. The evil one craftily lures us away from it, our culture deceive us into thinking it offers something far better and more satisfying, and our own desires entertain deceitful thoughts of finding success, satisfaction and significance in our own way instead of God’s. Following God is simple, but for those reasons, not easy.

Yet, again, it is quite simple. God says do this and you will bring glory to me and I will release goodness to you. Fear me, obey me, love me, serve me, and follow my laws—do this wholeheartedly and I will release my full goodness to you. By the way, any one of those—fear, obedience, love, service, and following—define the other. In other words, if you want to know what fear is, it is obeying, loving, serving and following God wholeheartedly. What is love? It is fearing, obeying, serving and following God wholeheartedly. You get the point!

But wait, there’s more. The proof of your wholehearted love for God (or fear, service, or followership) is in the pudding of how you actually live your life. God goes on to say that this is not just a theological calling of fear/obey/love/serve for your private worship, this is a relational calling that is for your public life. For love of God is to be fleshed out among those people you know, and even the ones you don’t know. It is to be exemplified especially among those the community would tend to marginalize—the least of these, as Jesus would call them. The gracious and merciful love that God extended to you is to be extended in the same way through you to the most vulnerable—orphans, widows and immigrants:

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)

So at this point a really tough question needs to be asked of you: What are you doing for orphans, widows and immigrants? Not “what do you think” (and even there, some of us need to really think through our theology on this in light of current political philosophy on education, welfare and immigration), but what are you actually doing to defend, embrace, feed and clothe the orphans, widows and immigrants among you? Defend, embrace, feed and clothe—God’s commands, not mine.

Let me say it again: what are you—not the government, which certainly has a legal and moral role to play—actually doing to defend, embrace, feed and clothe the orphans, widows and immigrants among you?

Why should you care about that? Well, that is what God has graciously and mercifully done for you—defend, embrace, feed and clothe—so you better get with it and somehow involve yourself in the very same actions toward the least of these! Seriously, the proof of your fear of the Lord, obedience to his Word, love for God, service unto him and discipleship is in the pudding of how you treat, or don’t treat, orphans, widows and immigrants.

Don’t like what I am saying? Don’t get upset with me—take it up with God. Or go do something about it. (If you need ideas, check this out: Petros Network ) As John Bunyan said,

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

Going Deeper: Read and reflect deeply and personally on these verses: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (Matthew 25:35-40)