Deuteronomy 6: 13 – 14  (also reference Luke 4: 8 & Matthew 4: 10)

Reverence the Lord your God, serve him only by doing his will, and swear by him only (i.e., Put your confidence in Him only). Do not rely on; or put your trust in, any other, or be swayed by contemporary norms.

Let not your desires for riches, fame, power, or glory cause you to worship any other gods or systems of men.  Neither should you serve any other cause except the person of God Almighty.

You become the slave of whatever you ascribe worth to or hold as important. Even a “Godly cause” can become a false and cruel master leading you away from God Almighty.

Reserve pride of place and adoration for the one and only true God.  Your heart has room for only one God. Serve him and him alone worship.

Deuteronomy 6: 16 – 19 (Also reference Matthew 4: 12 & Luke 4: 7)

Do not tempt or test the Lord your God, instead diligently follow His statutes and His ways which he has shown you and you will fulfill that which is right and good in His sight: that it may be well with you, and that you may experience all that He had promised according to His word.

Obedience is an act of faith and trust and not dutiful submission. We are to willingly put all our confidence in God and his providence which gives us cause to obey him without doubting or second-guessing.

Do not tempt fate as proof of your confidence, but by your obedience, demonstrate your faith.

Deuteronomy 8: 3 (Also reference Matthew 4: 4)

So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Food may nourish the body, but the word of God sustains the entire being; body, soul, and spirit.  To maintain good health, it is essential to feed the body properly. Similarly, belief and faith fuel a living being as it feeds on God’s eternal precepts.

So let the precepts of your faith sustain you rather than your carnal cravings or yearnings.

Matthew 3:15

“Then Jesus answering said unto him, let it be so now: for God requires us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”

In an age where right and wrong is a bygone concept to be relegated to the dustbin of time, along with all other moral impediments, it is easy to play deaf to the clarion call of the Spirit, which still beckons us to do that which is right.

We are called to righteousness, not only because our God requires it, but because He is righteous, and to do otherwise is to grieve His Spirit. For if we are led by His Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, He will lead us into all truth and righteousness.  

Leave void no opportunity to do the right thing. Take action, don’t be silent in the face of hate, injustice, bigotry, or indifference.

Do not cower when faced with criticism and hate, but let Christ be your standard, guided by the indwelling omnipresent Spirit of Almighty God.

Luke 2:49

“And Jesus said to them, how is it that you couldn’t find me, you know that I would be about my Father’s business.”

Be purposeful with your time here on earth.  We all have a purpose, a mission, a calling. There are a few persons who, from an early stage, know or have some inkling of what that calling is. However, often that calling is revealed to us progressively as we build on our relationship with God by daily steps of faith.

If you are one of those persons who are still unsure of your calling, your defining reason for being here, take confidence in the fact that there is a pathway that you can take.

The word reminds us to seek as a priority the spiritual things of God, to fulfill all His righteousness so that all we need will be made manifest unto us.

It is by living by faith, learning to trust God’s providence that we not only discover more about God and the world we live in, but we begin to see ourselves through His eyes and come into a clearer understanding of His purpose for us here in this realm.

As God’s will becomes apparent, we ought to be single-mindedly committed to fulfilling the mission to which we have been called.