Sometimes the way believers treat other people reveals that they have forgotten who they were before Christ redeemed them. With this in mind, the text that stood out from the Day 168 reading was Deuteronomy 15:15 (ESV) reads:
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
While this verse deals with how the Israelites were to treat Israelite slaves, I don’t think it is a stretch to cite in support of the 21st Century principle of a Christ-follower remembering who redeemed him or her.
Verse 15 falls within Deuteronomy 15:12–18 (ESV), which reads:
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
What one sees from the text is that God expected his people to be generous to those less fortunate. One ought to note that servitude was for only six years with release on the seventh year. Release was not merely release, but freedom with plenty of material things to start fresh. The reason to be generous was that:
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
If you are a Christian, Jesus redeemed you from a debt you could never pay. In light of the grace and mercy Jesus showed to you, should not you strive to show that same grace and mercy to your fellow believers. If you have a chance, take a look at the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:23-35. Verse 32-33 (ESV) stand out:
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
Yes, this is something I am working on.
If you are reading this post and are not a Christian, what I wrote today has no application to you. Please understand that unless God intervenes, your eternal destination is hell. But, God can intervene and change your eternal destiny. Today can be the day of your salvation. Please see my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/04/20/for-god-so-loves-you-2/) for a description of how you can be saved.
The Professor Grant Horner Bible Reading System is a great 500 day Bible reading plan. The following link presents a description of the plan ( https://sohmer.net/media/professor_grant_horners_bible_reading_system.pdf). My goal is to briefly share my thoughts on the passage that stands out the most for me each day.
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