Year 4, Day 173: Deuteronomy 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character, Identity

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.
• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

In Deuteronomy 22 we can see laws that primarily rotate around community.  Do we have the character that it takes to look after, protect, and even value our neighbor’s and our brother’s property?  Do we have the character to value the sexual purity of one another?  Do we have the character to value our relationship with God?  Do we have the character to reflect that relationship in our marriages and our society’s understanding of marriage?

Quite naturally, character questions often come back to identity.  Our character is a reflection of the things we worship.  Our character should be a reflection of God’s character.  Our identity should be developed out of the Father.

Do we see ourselves as having the identity of community caretakers?  Do we see ourselves as having the identity of protecting the sexual purity of those in our midst?  Do we see ourselves as people called to uphold God’s values – even in the face of worldly passion?

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