Holy, Chosen, Treasured

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 7

Scripture Focus: For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7.6)

Devotional Thought: Yesterday, we saw how God brought out the children of Israel in order to bring them in. When he gave them their new land, he told them not to make alliances with the people and patterns of Canaan. Why? They were a people...

• Holy. To be holy means to be set apart, consecrated for God's purpose. Just as Israel was set apart to be the nation to whom blessing would come to the world, we are designed for the eternal purposes of God. Jesus died on the cross, the Bible says, to save people from sin. We are to be holy people in the sense that we are fulfilling Jesus' purpose in the world. Jesus was cursed on the cross to 'become sin', even though he was without sin, pure and spotless. We are to be holy people like him, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb!

• Chosen. God said that Jesus was his chosen one, his beloved one with whom he was well-pleased. When God looks at Jesus, he sees perfection. He is pleased. When God looks at us, he does so through the prism of Jesus. He is pleased. Let us consecrate ourselves to be worthy of the calling we have received!

• Treasured. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have lived in unbroken fellowship since the dawn of eternity. It is a perfect union of love. God created us in his image that we might enter into the divine dance! He treasures us so much that he paid the ultimate price to redeem us - the life of his Son!

We are a people holy, chosen and treasured!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for making me holy. Thank you for choosing to save me through the blood of Jesus. Thank you for treasuring me as your special possession. I love you, Lord! Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 14.1-3

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.