Author: Joshua Kansiewicz

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 13 before reading the devotional below.

“That’s the worst!” I said and laughed.  I was on a date with my wife, and we had ordered a deep dish pizza.  Or at least we thought we had. Apparently the word “sicilian” doesn’t mean what I think it means.  The pizza was actually a very thin crust. My wife smiled. She had been prepared to endure the deep dish pizza for my sake, but she’d clearly prefer this one.  “Maybe not the worst,” she said. In that moment, my mind went to all the things that would really be “the worst.” Harm coming to my family was top of the list.  Then harm coming to my church. The pizza clearly wasn’t really the worst. It was only third.

As Moses continues this inspired teaching about how to live as the people of God, he addresses what God genuinely thinks is “the worst.” One might think of murder as the worst sin, or lying, perhaps.  Some might think of greed or adultery. God is very clear in this chapter: the worst thing is idolatry. There is nothing worse than putting something, anything, in the place that God Himself deserves.  In our lives, God is like the keystone of an arch. If a keystone isn’t placed correctly, all the stones fall out of the arch. In our lives, if God doesn’t have the place he deserves, the rest of our lives fall apart.

If you keep God in the proper place in your life, you have a far better chance of keeping everything else in the right place.  Guard his place in your life carefully, and he will guard the rest of your life. He promises to care for you, to protect you, to bless you.  Why would you ever want to live apart from that?

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 12 before reading the devotional below.

I’ve already picked out my project for next summer.  There is a kit you can buy on Amazon that gives you the plans and all the pieces you need to build an entire shed out of just two-by-fours.  I’m not very good at doing construction projects, so the idea of being able to follow a set of directions, so the idea of being able to build myself a shed is really exciting. The one thing I know, though, is that if I buy the kit I need to be careful to follow the directions. Projects like that always fail when you don’t carefully study and follow the plans.

Chapter 12 of Deuteronomy continues to instruct the Israelites on how they should live once they enter into the land God promised them.  The previous chapters reminded the Israelites that God chose them because of his own character, not because of theirs. This chapter now specifically teaches them how to relate to him once they have arrived in the promised land.  Specifically, the message is this: worship God in the ways that he teaches you rather than making up ideas on your own. This involved two key elements. The first was sacrifices. God had instituted a series of sacrifices as the heart of worship for his people.  Sacrifice was an object lesson that God regularly used to help his people understand the seriousness of sin and the significance of devotion to God. The second element was celebration. God was the greater provider for his people, so he instructs them to eat celebratory meals, meals specifically emphasizing meat which was a luxury.  

God wants to guide us in worshiping him in ways that he finds to be the most pleasing. Learning how God likes to be worshiped is somewhat like learning how a spouse likes to be complimented or what kinds of gifts a particular friend likes to receive.  God shows us in this passage that he likes to be worshiped through celebration and sacrifice. Worship is the humble act of celebration and sacrifice. Celebration helps us cultivate gratitude toward God. Sacrifice is a way of giving back to God a portion of what he has provided us.  That ensures that we will always remember that it is God we are dependent on, not the gifts we have received. Today, give yourself the gift of freedom: celebrate and sacrifice as ways of worshiping God.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 11 before reading the devotional below.

My wife and I sat on the couch together, munched on popcorn, and watched a TV show called The Amazing Race.  The idea of the show is that a bunch of teams have to race from checkpoint to checkpoint around the entire world.  The first team to reach the finish line wins one million dollars. In this particular episode, the teams were in Zambia, and they had to drive a truck to a wildlife preserve several hours away.  As the episode began, the camera zoomed in on the truck’s gas tank, where the words “Diesel Only” were printed in large letters. Several teams followed the directions, and their trucks worked fine.  Several teams ignored the warning, and their trucks stalled.

In this chapter God is leading Moses to help the Israelites think in a similar “either/or” mentality.  The contestants on The Amazing Race encountered a simple either/or choice. If they followed directions, things would work out generally fine.  Now, even if they filled up with Diesel gas, their trucks could still have problems like a flat tire. But filling up with Diesel gave them the greatest possible chance of success.  Alternatively, they could not see or ignore the directions and put unleaded gas in the truck. In that case, they were guaranteed to fail. God’s people must make a similar choice. If they follow God’s directions, they have the greatest possible chance of success, even though things might still go wrong along the way.  If they don’t follow God’s directions, then there is a guaranteed chance of failure.

Following God’s ways doesn’t guarantee a life without problems or challenges.  It does guarantee the best possible outcome in life, however. God’s rules simply point out the easiest possible life path.  There could be not greater freedom than that.

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 10 before reading the devotional below.

I received a lot of participation trophies as a child – for soccer, baseball, theater performances and even for singing.  It wasn’t until I was a junior in high school that I earned my first actually trophy. A friend of mine was sick, and he needed someone to fill in for him on the debate team.  I was naturally argumentative, so I said I’d fill in. After an entire Saturday of arguing about useless topics (I recall spending 45 minutes arguing that in fact Santa Claus is NOT coming to town.), I had scored best novice debater in the state. Regardless of whether debating was a big deal, I was wildly excited just to be the best at something.

Deuteronomy 10 is really a continuation of the previous chapter, but it will end with a declaration of who is the absolute best.  Deuteronomy 9 began with God reminding the Israelites that he didn’t choose them because they deserved it, then using a series of events from Israelite history to make the point.  This chapter continues that series of anecdotes, draws the conclusion from the opposite perspective. Chapter 9 drew a conclusion about what Israel was not: Israel was not worthy. Chapter 10 draws a parallel conclusion about what God is: the greatest of all Gods, unalterably just, and voluntarily loving.

It is easy to look back on our lives and relive all our failures and mistakes and sins.  It is tempting to let those moments define us. Yet God’s message in all of those moments is that He is a God of grace. He graciously chose us, knowing that we were sinful.  He graciously loves us when we prove to be more sinful than we (though not he) expected. We graciously welcomes us back whenever we seek his forgiveness. From first to last, the story of our lives is not one that focuses on our sin, it is a story of His love.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 9 before reading the devotional below.

When I was a teenager, I agreed to cut my neighbor’s lawn every other week for $20.  Most of the lawn was easy to mow, and I did it. One section, however, was on a hill, and it was very difficult to mow properly.  During that first summer, there were several times I didn’t mow the hill even though I had agreed to. One day when I went to get paid, my neighbor brought me outside and showed me the unmowed hill.  “That’s not done right,” he said. I tried to give him the money back, but he refused to take it. I knew I hadn’t earned it, but he still gave it to me.

As Moses continues to teach the Israelites, God is communicating a similar message.  Most of the chapter is about the failure of the Israelites and the anger of God, but don’t miss the setup.  The point of the chapter is not that God gets angry at sinners. The point is that God didn’t pick the Israelites because they were good – because they weren’t.  Moses tells all the stories about Israel’s failures to reinforce this point: they didn’t deserve God’s love.  Before the Israelites go into their promised land, God wants this truth firmly implanted in their minds.  It will bring them a humility that wars against entitlement; a gratitude that undermines selfishness and self-dependence.

As one of my favorite teachers always says, “You can’t get any better until you realized that God loves you even if you never get any better.” Just like the Israelites, God didn’t invite you into a relationship with Him because you were somehow uniquely qualified.  He invited you because he made a choice to love you. That means you can’t possibly do anything to lose his love. You can’t do anything to jeopardize his love. The love of God is the surest, solidest most trustworthy thing in all the world.