Deuteronomy 7:6-8 "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."
I read an interesting quote by CS Lewis this morning, "The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us." Stop and think about that for a moment. Read it again if you have to. God loved us and died for us while we were yet sinners and His enemies (Romans 5:8). Today's verses teach us that God chose Israel, not because they were anything special, but simply because He loved them. We did not choose God, but He chose us (John 15:16). We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people (1Peter 2:9-10). Like Israel, there was nothing special about us, other than the fact that God loved us and chose us. What that means is that God's love for us was not, and is not, measured by how good we are, but by God's goodness, mercy, and grace. In other words, He loved us, and loves us, in spite of our imperfections. He already knew that we were loud mouths, stiff-necked, contentious, obnoxious, selfish, greedy, angry, liars, and whatever else we want to add to this list (if we are honest about who we are). Yet, none of that deterred God, or became a determining factor in His love for us. Why do I say all this? I say it to remind us that when the enemy comes to whisper the lie in our ears that Jesus no longer loves us because we did "this or that", that we remember that God loves us because He loves us, and nothing or no one can change that or separate us from His love (Romans 8:37-39). Before I close, however, I want to remind us of this one thing; God loves us, but God is also holy, just, and will not hesitate to chasten us when we sin. He does it BECAUSE He loves us. So, when we stumble, know that God's love for us is unchanging. Repent, confess, get right with the Lord, and continue walking in His love, because it will never ever fail us.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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