Weekly Reflection – Reaffirmation

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. So you shall obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.” — Deuteronomy 27:9-10

Moses was addressing a new generation of Israelites who were either young children or not yet born when the Law was given at Mount Sinai. The Lord wanted them to hear His commandments with their own ears and to personally accept the terms of His covenant. This is still the approach to God’s unconditional covenant with the Jewish people. At the coming of age, Jewish children accept and pledge to affirm the Law as though it had been given to them personally—each one chosen, each one led out of Egypt’s bondage, and each one standing at the foot of Mount Sinai prepared to observe God’s mandates and ready to enter into His promises.

In like manner, Paul instructs the church at Ephesus to “walk worthy of the calling” of Christ (Ephesians 4:1). Paul reminds Gentile believers that we were outside of the covenant and therefore aliens to God’s promises. We must no longer follow the old way of life that results in the hardening of our hearts and ultimate separation from the Giver of life, leaving us spiritually dead, “having lost all sensitivity and the fear of consequences” (Colossians 3:25).