Deal or No Deal

I've discovered I love the book of Deuteronomy. It's Moses' swan song. Like a parent writing a letter to their graduating senior, Moses is writing his last bits of advice to the nation of Israel before they enter the promised land and his earthly life comes to an end. He reminds the Hebrews of their adventures, travels and the laws God has given them. And he reminds them that they are God's treasured possession. Then he gives them the best deal they could ask for.

He says: "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on the earth." Deut. 28:1 He tells them they will be so blessed that they will have tons of children, plentiful crops and vineyards, herds of livestock, tons of food, be disease-free and lead pretty charmed lives of success in whatever they do. No one will defeat them as a nation and they will be indebted to no one: a pretty sweet deal.

But, he says, if they don't obey, look out, the curses will flow. And everything listed above will be in reverse. So, it's a no-brainer really. Obey, good. Disobey, bad.

After all this, God then speaks to Moses - and you can almost hear Him sigh when He says: "They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them." Deut. 31:16. God knows, despite the fact that He has given them the best deal ever, they are going to turn away from Him after they are settled in the land. They do, and things get pretty ugly.

You know, God has given us a pretty good deal too. He says anyone who believes Jesus is the Christ will live forever with Him. He doesn't say you have to obey - though we should - or that there will be consequences for our choices - which, of course, there will. He just says believe in Christ. When I think of the many who will not take that deal, I sigh along with our Father. Because the results of taking the wrong end of that deal are pretty awful and, well, damning.

Yeah, I love Deuteronomy. It's a nice reminder of how much God has loved, nurtured, disciplined and forgiven His children inspite of their failures ... to the eventual point of sending Jesus (Deut. 18:15). When God asks, "Deal or no deal?" how will you respond?

Wandering Ox

The other day while driving home from church though this beautiful neighborhood with winding streets that force you to travel slowly, I thought I saw an elderly women about to topple over. She looked like she was losing her footing, so I was about to immediately pull over to the side and get out to make sure she was alright. When I got a closer look, I noticed she wasn't falling. She was crushing an aluminum can underfoot. Once it was crushed, she picked it up and put it in a plastic bag she was carrying. This woman was walking along those streets picking up trash.

It reminded me of a Bible verse that just makes me chuckle when I read it. It's Exodus 23:4. The Lord through Moses is giving the Israelites the rules to live by when He shares this one: "If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it." I giggle because this just isn't practical for me in this day and age, as neither my friends nor enemies have oxen or donkey to let wander off. However, anytime I see a person's trash can rolling in the street or some yard decoration blowing down the road, I stop what I'm doing to return it, remembering this verse, mumbling to myself, "Gotta save the ox." So when I saw the women picking up trash I thought, "There she is collecting the oxen." Granted, I doubt she was going to return it to its littering owner.

As I walked today, I saw aluminum cans, plastic bottles and - my biggest pet peeve - cigarette butts strewn along the curbside. I didn't have a plastic bag with me to collect these items, but I did grab stuff as I walked to put with my garbage at home. I didn't do it to make the world a prettier place or to recycle. I did it because God would want me to.

One thing I did not pick was the cigarette butts. I would like, however, to one day return one of those to their rightful owner. So if you are waiting at an intersection in front of me and toss your butt out the window, don't be surprised if I get out of my car, pick it up and knock on your window to return it. Just giving you back your ox.