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Bought with a Price

I am currently reading in the book of Deuteronomy, which I might add is one of the richest and most well-worth-reading and knowing book in all of Scripture.  For example, did you know that Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book?  It is a book that reminds us - in fact, the word "remember" is frequently used to call us back to God's faithfulness, and his truth.  

God gave Deuteronomy to Moses to give to the people just before they were to enter into this new "Promised" land.  They had wandered for over 40 years as a generation of elders had died off...elders who had not believed God in the wilderness and rebelled against his word and his promises.  God let them live out their days wandering in the wilderness, and as the last of that generation died, God came again to the nation and reminded them of who he was, and who they were.

It's important that we remember that... WHO is GOD?  Deuteronomy 6 is a crucial passage.  

Deuteronomy 6:4-7
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 

He then reminds them... "Do not forget the LORD, who brought you up out of slavery..."  It's an important word and one we can forget in our own day and time.  There's something inside of us that recoils to the word "Slavery".  Something inside each of us that says that was an evil institution that has been undone, and we hate the history behind it...and so we should.  
Yet, Scripture reminds us that we "are all slaves to our sinfulness".  We are all "redeemed", or "bought" by the blood of our Saviour - freed from the slavery of sin in order to be children of God...bought by God's own son.  WHY?  Because of God's great love.

Let us never forget - We Belong to God
You are not what you do, although you do a lot. You are not what you have collected in terms of friendships and connections, although you might have many. You are not the popularity that you have received. You are not the success of your work. You are not what people say about you, whether they speak well or whether they speak poorly about you. All these things that keep you quite busy, quite occupied, and often quite preoccupied are not telling the truth about who you are. I am here to remind you in the name of God that you are the Beloved Daughters and Sons of God, and that God says to you, “I have called you from all eternity and you are engraved from all eternity in the palms of my hands. You are mine. You belong to me, and I love you with an everlasting love.”  - Henri Nouwen

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