Harvest Daily - October 17, 2005

Monday, October 17, 2005

Our Privilege

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

—Exodus 20:1–2

Before the Lord gave the first of the Ten Commandments to Moses, He offered a reminder of what He has done for His people, the Israelites.  He was saying, “Remember, I brought you out of Egypt.  You were slaves there.  You were in bitter bondage.  You were in misery.  You called out, and I sent a deliverer, Moses.  He brought you out of that land of oppression and slavery.  Remember that I did that for you.”

In the same way, we were once living under the power of sin.  We were facing a Christless eternity and a certain judgment.  But God in His great mercy loved us and reached out to us.  And when we put our faith in Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, He pardoned us and forgave us of every sin that we had ever committed.

God was saying to the Israelites, “Before I tell you what I want you to do for Me, I want to remind you of what I have done for you.”  The same principle is true for us.  God is saying to us, “Before I give you My laws and standards, I want to remind you of what I have done for each of you.”

Now if I really appreciate what God has done for me, it should be my privilege and pleasure to seek to live a life that is pleasing to Him. It is not because I have to, but because I want to.  As 1 John 4:19 reminds us, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Our obedience to God’s commandments should spring from our love.

Copyright © 2005 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.