Devotional: Deuteronomy 7

We live in a world that tells us that productivity and accomplishing things are the keys to success. If we can just work hard enough, we’ll be rewarded and get what we want. We believe that people will not only accept us for what we can do; they’ll like and admire us too. Being productive is what makes us into who we want to be — valued, admired, esteemed — so it can be extremely difficult when our ability to be productive is taken away, like it has been for many of us right now.

Deuteronomy 7 is a reminder, however, that God’s philosophies are different than ours. As God speaks to the nation of Israel in this chapter, He reminds them very clearly that they are who they are not because of the things they’ve been able to accomplish, but rather because of who God is. He says, I have “chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be [my] people, [my] treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery…” Israel’s status and success can be attributed to only one thing: God’s love for them.

I’m reminded that the good news of Jesus actually says the exact same thing that God told Israel in Deuteronomy. Jesus died to save me, but not because of anything I have done or will do. He chose me to be his child, but not because I earned it or deserve it. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

What this means is that my salvation has absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with the great and faithful love of God. I did nothing to earn this great gift. My status as his child is dependent on one thing: God’s great and unchanging love, that gives me what I need and makes me into who I want to be, regardless of what I can or cannot produce.

Thank you, Father, that in your great love You have chosen us to be yours.