DISCUSSION
As the Children of Israel begin their conquest of the land of Canaan, God wanted to make sure that His people continued to be fully committed to His ways. To ensure that, He gave specific instructions for them to not “imitate” the pagan practices of the current inhabitants. His instructions for them were clear in Deuteronomy 18.13 “You shall be blameless before the Lord your God ” (NASB). That word “blameless” meant “perfect, complete, sound, intact”. It was God’s desire that His people be completely different from the people that inhabited the land of Canaan. That desire still exists for God’s people today. Today He calls us 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.” (1 Peter 2:9). As a child of God, He expects you to be different, special and holy. He doesn’t want you to look like the world; in fact He wants you to be different, so you can bring them out of the darkness that exists outside of God. In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.16, Jesus says that our lives should be lived as a light to show the world a better way to live. Let’s do our best to be “blameless” in this world and not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world, but transformed by renewing of minds of whose we are (Romans 12.2)
Prayer Requests:_______________________________________________________________