“So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” Deuteronomy 22:21d, 22d, 24c

This isn’t the first time we encounter this command in Deuteronomy, God is serious about our worship, serious about our focus of worship – God also knows we are a people prone to give in to temptation. That which threatens exclusive worship of the Lord we are to treat with utmost seriousness, without hesitation we are to eliminate distractions/temptations/threats immediately so as to protect the body of faith. This is another measure of our faith journey. What is it in my life that distracts me from loving God first, loving others and myself as Jesus loves? Awe but there is a tension built in to this thought. While we welcome sinners as Jesus does, we are welcoming the person there sin. We are to love others not that which they do, we are not to judge but must be discerning. Welcoming all, Holding each other accountable in love, but dismissing those who will not join in the covenant of faith. O Lord that I get the balance right, that I assess myself correctly in comparison to you, that I love others, that I hold you up to them, that I receive correction from others faster and more readily than I correct. Always looking to you, praising and glorifying you Lord!