Title: Serious Commitment/ Topic: Dedication

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 13; Deuteronomy 14; Deuteronomy 15; Galatians 1

Scripture: Deuteronomy 13:1-11
1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

Observation: Wow! Spiritual leaders, fathers, mothers, siblings, and lovers; not one of them was to be spared if they tried to lead others to worship other gods. . God is driving home the point that the biggest danger to the lives of his people is not disease, poverty, or any other malady. The biggest danger to them was worshiping anything other than God! This is serious business. It can seem cruel, but God's motivation was love; he wanted his people to live happy, fulfilled lives and serving other things or people in priority over him would be destructive to them. Today, in the age of grace, we don't kill those who try to lead us astray, but we are warned to separate ourselves from them.

Application: God needs to be the first priority in my life. I am not to place a single personal relationship above Him. It will only spell disaster for me if I do. I see a lot of people who put lovers or children before God. They are doing their loved ones no favors by letting them think they can be more important than God is to us and we do ourselves a disservice to have them as an idol in our hearts above God. This word also points out that I must never be a blind follower of any spiritual teacher. I must evaluate what I hear and if it doesn't glorify the Lord as the one true God then I must not listen to or follow that particular “prophet”.

Prayer: Father, I love you and you alone. You are the one who gives me the capacity to love others, but they will never replace you as Lord in my life. I want to follow all your decrees because you want the best for me. You know how I need to live to have fulfillment, love, peace and joy in my life. Thank you, Lord, for showing me the path of everlasting life.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.