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Deuteronomy 12

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Verses 1-4, “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.”  God makes it very clear that He does not want people to worship Him using the same practices that are used to worship false gods. To avoid any temptation, the places where pagan worship was conducted were to be completely destroyed. Also the created things that were used in such worship were also to be destroyed, lest they begin to worship idols, created things over the Creator.

Verses 5-7, “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”  God's children were not entitled to worship God in any way they saw fit, but were to follow God's prescribed method of worship in obedience.  When you truly love someone, you are more concerned with what they want than in pleasing yourself, and sacrifice your desires for theirs.  This should be even more the case if we love God. Those who are self-seeking are not following God, but under the power of demonic wisdom.

Verses 8-11, “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today— every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord.”  Doing what is right in your own eyes is terribly sinful and rebellious. Laws are in place to restrain the wickedness of man, and when man perceives that he no longer has to follow them, you have utter chaos. Abortion and homosexuality/transgenderism are a direct result of doing what is right in your own eyes.

We can see what that looks like in Judges 17:6, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  Without leadership and accountability, there is confusion and chaos. Even the most sincere person attempting to do what is right will be deceived and mess it up.  Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”  I am sure that Eve did what was right in her own eyes, and look what happened. This is precisely why it is not up to us to decide, but God determines what is good and what is evil. Why? Because He knows the heart of man, judging not only by what can be seen.  Proverbs 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.”  What is really scary is that groups of professing Christians within the church are declaring what is right in their own eyes, leading many to hell on the wide path. 

No matter what the group thinks, you have a responsibility to do what is right in God's eyes.  Any church leader led by God, will be pointing you to the truth of the word and teaching righteousness and holiness according to the Bible.  I Peter 1:15-16, “...but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' ”  Without holiness, you will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12). If you leave church each week feeling great about yourself, then your pastor is not doing a good job teaching you God's righteousness, but what is right in his own eyes. You should leave feeling corrected by the word, at times rebuked, humbled with a renewed zeal to serve God acceptably, and so thankful for His love and grace. Rather than you being lifted up, or the pastor or worship team, God should be getting all the glory.

Verse 29-31, “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.”  There is no good to be found in learning about how other gods are served. They do not have special ways to be copied in serving our God (i.e. lighting candles, saying chants, posing your bodies, etc.), and there is a good chance you will become ensnared in their evil. Paul writes in Romans 16:19, “...I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” 

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