Many people talk about God calling us out of something while not sharing the reality that God called His people to something. Day 12 of the 90-day bible read-through shares God's interaction with Moses and Israel and what they were called to do as a nation for His glory.
Deuteronomy 5: God interacting with Moses says, beginning verse 31, "... stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.’ 32 So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess."
God rescued them from slavery, "‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Their captivity in Egypt was hard labor. Their rescue should have been the impetus to gratitude and submission to their rescuer. He had the right to call them from slavery to a lifestyle of holiness.
The New Testament reminds us that as Christians we, too, are called from a lifestyle of harsh slavery to sin, to a lifestyle that requires holiness. 1 Peter 2:8 "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
The focus of much of Christianity is all that God has done for us. We talk about the work of the life of Jesus, his death, and the resurrection, but we forget that He says, "Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?" It is not enough to say, "I have faith. But I will show you my faith by my works." This was the same for Israel; it was great to celebrate what they were called out of, but they had to walk by the lifestyle God called them to. Today's Christians must remember the lifestyle we have been called to, too.
When we are asked why we live the way we live, "“When you're asks... saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ 21then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand." We understand God called us from a lifestyle of slavery, to a lifestyle of holiness. With gratitude we live the way He demands, we owe everything to Him.
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