Deuteronomy 18:9 – “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.” 

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, I was challenged and encouraged. As I read in Deuteronomy, several things loomed large in my mind.

In Deuteronomy 17:1, we are reminded that we are never to give God our discards.  We give Him the best!  In Deuteronomy 18:9, we learn that Sin (lifestyle) is learned.   That is one reason to come out from among them and shun even the appearance of evil.   Truly, birds of a feather flock together.   If we hang around with corruption, we learn to be corrupt. Our conscience is conditioned to ignore or condone Sin.  Once learned and embraced, it is difficult to extract ourselves.  Therefore, the warning: “Don’t let it begin.”

In Deuteronomy 23:22, we learn that we must never fail to keep our promises (vows) to God.   God will not casually ignore it.  He requires it: no peace and no lasting victory until we fulfill our promise.

I love the comfort and hope of John 16:1. The Word of God keeps us from stumbling. It is Light!

We often struggle with temptation because we have not surrendered our whole hearts to Jesus.  We keep going back to the people and places that get us off track.  There may come a time when we need a new set of friends. There may come a time when we have to purge our houses, removing everything that facilitates our failure.

If we keep playing with fire, we will be burned. If we keep excusing Sin or postponing our surrender, we place ourselves in danger of having a “seared” conscience.

Stop blaming God!  The statement, “I’m only human is blaming God for our failure.”   How?   God made us!  He made us human, and humanity (flesh) is weak.  We do not have the strength to resist, so we are effectively saying, “God, it’s Your fault.”   STOP IT!   Jesus has come to live in and through us. Therefore, we have God’s strength and willpower to face anything!  The problem is SURRENDER or failing to do so.

If we give God our All, He gives us His All.  Therefore, it is a matter of deciding to Surrender Totally.  Until we do, we will never know true freedom. But when we do, WE ARE FREE! It is that simple!

LORD, help us to learn righteousness, not Sin!