๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Who around you would you say are โin needโ? What would you say they need that only others can give them?ย
โข Share about a time that someone was kind to you. How did you feel? What was your response?
โข Who would you say has had a positive influence on you? Would you say that positive influences are important in life? Why or why not?ย
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
โ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.โ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฒ:๐ฒ-๐ณ
(Read also ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฒ)
Moses reminded the Israelites, Godโs chosen people, to keep all of His commandments in their hearts. They were to teach them, speak of them, and have them in mind every moment that they were awake. There were no exceptions to these commandments.ย
They include the responsibility that Godโs people have towards those who are limited in power or excluded from opportunities because of lack or poverty. God tells us that every moment we are awake, we must remember to show kindness and openness to the poor.
๐ญ. ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐.ย
โ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ . . .โย ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ณ
Moses reminded the Israelites that they were going to live in the land that God had given to them. They would not earn or win it by their own wealth or power. In response to this graciousness, the attitude of their hearts should be soft hearts and open hands to anyone among the people of God in need of something they can provide. How do you think you have been learning to be kind towards the poor?ย
๐ฎ. ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ.
โ. . . ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ.โ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ด
The command of God does not stop at compassion and kindness. It goes beyond our attitude and requires our action. The Israelites were to notice and be aware of the needs of their brothers and sisters in the Lord. They were not to ignore those in need or say that it was none of their business. As a community, they were to give enough to cover the costs of those needs. What needs do you see around you? What action could you take?ย
Deuteronomy 7:6โ11 tells us that we, Godโs people, have His salvation and presence not because of anything we have done to deserve it. Instead, it is only because He loved us first and loves us no matter what. We have these for free because He paid the price for us to live in the security of His salvation. There is no greater motivation to show kindness to others than this.
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข What did Moses say about generosity in this passage? How does this apply to your life?
โข When this commandment was given to them, the Israelites were approaching their Promised Land after God rescued them from slavery. What is the similarity of their story to ours as Godโs people under the new covenant in Christ?ย
โข What attitude were the Israelites supposed to have towards the poor among Godโs people? What attitude are we supposed to have towards the poor among our brothers and sisters in Christ? What is one action you can take this week to meet someoneโs needs?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for His generosity to the Israelites and to us as His children.ย
โข Pray that God will soften your heart and open your hands to have an attitude and lifestyle of generosity.ย
โข Ask God to make you a blessing and a channel of His love to others this week.ย