The First Sunday in Lent (OTA)

Deuteronomy 6:10-19

¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ¹² then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. ¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵ for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ¹⁸ And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ¹⁹ by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

Many people may not think they live in a land of luxury. But in the United States and most of the Western world, it is full of luxury. We expect certain things when we travel in foreign lands. This often makes us ignorant, arrogant, and hostile. Yet, we wonder why other countries despise US. 

It is very simple for us to forget all the years of hard work and even wars that were fought to provide us with indoor plumbing. We forget the price that people had to pay in order to get the dollar to worth what it is today, or more importantly the average days wages. It is not good to loss sight of what our life has cost others.

Yes, we can remember the deliverance of God's people from the Land of Egypt. We can remember the price soldiers paid in the Revolutionary War. We can even recall the lives that died for slavery, or skin color in the US. But beyond this let us also remember the sacrifice that was made for us on a cross. Christ died for the forgiveness if our sin. He died to purchases us for the power of the devil. He died to set his people free from sin. Even though we still have sin clinging to our flesh, let us repent of these sins and turn to God for forgiveness.