In Deuteronomy 11 Moses is speaking to Israel before they enter the Promised Land. This chapter starts with Moses saying, “Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.” This is important because obedience begins with love. God wasn’t telling Israel to just follow a bunch of rules. He wanted their hearts. In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” Jesus connects love and obedience in the same way Deuteronomy does. The difference is that Jesus doesn’t just tell us what God’s commands are. He gives us the power to live for God through the Holy Spirit.
This chapter also drives home that the Israelites were to remember what God had done for them and to share with their children what God had done. Moses reminds them about the Exodus, the Red Sea, God’s judgment, His provision, and everything He had done for them. Why? He tells them to do this because remembering God’s faithfulness would strengthen their faith. The same principle applies to us following Jesus. One thing that a lot of people say about us as believers in Christ is that we’re just supposed to have blind faith. This could not be further from the truth. God has left us with more than enough evidence that he is who he says he is. He does this with more than just the evidence of Jesus dying on the cross, being resurrected 3 days later, and being seen by over 500 eye witnesses after he was supposed to be dead. He also gives us evidence by creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.” We can look at creation and see that the universe exists, order exists, and life exists. Human beings possess consciousness, reason, morality, and an awareness of God. It actually takes more faith to believe that there isn’t a God. I say all of this to say that the more we mature in our faith, the more we are supposed to share these experiences and revelations with our children so that they might see who God is and how real he is. They need to see that Jesus isn’t just something we talk about on Sunday. They need to see what following Jesus looks like when we’re tired, frustrated, working, dealing with problems, and interacting with other people.
Moses also tells the Israelites, “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse: there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today, and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God.” Moses gives Israel a choice. Follow God and be blessed or reject God and there will be consequences. This doesn’t mean that Christians who follow Jesus will never experience suffering or hardship. Jesus actually promised that His followers would experience difficulties. The deeper point is that there are two different directions for our lives. We can either have life with God or life apart from God. Jesus describes this same choice in Matthew 7:13–14 when he says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” This chapter shows the choice. Jesus ultimately becomes the way to life. When we say we are a believer in Christ we are also saying that we have an eternal mindset. Yes we may inherit blessings on earth, but more times than not, life on this earth following Jesus is going to be difficult. As believers we do not live for the treasures on this earth. We live for that moment when our time on this earth is done and we get to enter into eternal life with Jesus. Love y’all! Have a great day!
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.”
1 John 2:15-17
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