Category: 843 Acres

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Privileging Truth over Personal Gain

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 25.13–16
13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15  You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

Reflection: Privileging Truth over Personal Gain
By Rachel Larsen

Scripture not only teaches us to be truthful; it shows us how—and why. One example is the use of “accurate and honest weights and measures.” (Deuteronomy 25.15)

In the ancient world, people weighed goods and money to determine a fair price. Using different scales would misrepresent value, enabling fraud and rewarding greed.  

Dishonest scales were a common problem in the ancient world. That is why the call to keep honest weights appears again and again in the Bible. (Proverbs 11.1, 20.23; Amos 8.5) Israel was to shun this practice, using the same standard for all their business dealings. The command even comes with a promised reward: “so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deut 25.15) 

 Our society no longer relies on scales in this way, but the principle of not misleading others to gain an advantage remains. Especially in a culture like ours that is infatuated with economic status and vocational success, the temptation to misrepresent ourselves is alive and well. 

Do we exaggerate our strengths on our resumes or LinkedIn? Do we subtly or overtly take credit for work not fully our own? Do we gloat over our accomplishments at dinner parties? Practices like these are common and in certain contexts acceptable, just like having different weights was in the world of the Bible. 

But why does it matter?

Ultimately, we must care about truth because God is truth. The call for honest weights stems from God’s truthful character. Truthfulness is not about checking the right boxes or completing a list of demands. It is about being like the one we worship.

God called Israel to be holy as he is holy, to image or model his righteous character before the nations of the earth. (Exodus 19.6; Leviticus 11:44) God lives in us to conform us to the image of his son, who is truth. (John 14.6; Romans 8.29) 

May he cultivate in us a heart that puts truth above personal gain. As we grow into your likeness, Jesus, make us increasingly attuned to the ways our culture tempts us to privilege accomplishment over truth. Strengthen us to resist them. May you truly be first in our hearts and first in our lives.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not stray from your commandments. — Psalm 119.10

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 25 (Listen 2:38)
Romans 5 (Listen 3:53)

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Facts are more than our friends—they are our responsibility. And not only are facts our responsibility, truth is our identity.

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Seeking the truth is not only a spiritual quest. It is sometimes a civic one. Or a legal one.

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Stewards of Our Faith

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 24.16
16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

Reflection: Stewards of Our Faith
By Jacque Jordan

In Deuteronomy 24.16, Moses dictates the law to the Israelites who are learning how to live as a chosen people set apart by God. This law addresses Exodus 20.5, “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation to those who hate me.”

The last phrase, “…to those who hate me,” suggests iniquity is passed down to the third and fourth generations by choice. The Israelites blamed their current exile on the previous generations while continuing to commit the same sins. The Lord was not punishing them on behalf of their parent’s decisions, but judging their present immorality that was shared by their parents.

The Lord gives each person the gift of free will and assurance that he will judge the world in righteousness. We have a human desire to make sense of suffering by assigning blame to others’ sins. We also desire to make exceptions for our own sinful behavior. Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 18  teach individual responsibility for sin. So does Jesus. When his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus responded, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…” (John 9.2-3) The Lord does not hold His children accountable for any sins other than their own.

We live in a fallen world; sin patterns and the effects of sin are all around us, permeating our culture, family, and workplace. Certain circumstances and interactions are outside of our control and a part of life. The Lord, however, does not judge us by the criteria of the world.

A relationship with the Lord is true freedom. It is not defined by our parents, where we live, or what we look like. We are not responsible for what happens to us. We are accountable for how we pursue God in the midst of generational sin, confusion, cultural pressures, and the suffering of day-to-day life.

The freedom of being judged individually comes with individual responsibility. May we be good stewards of our faith, and have courage to follow the Lord even if we stand alone.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Let my mouth be full of your praise and your glory all the day long.
Do not cast me off in my old age; forsake me not when my strength fails. — Psalm 71.8-9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 24 (Listen 3:21)
Romans 4 (Listen 4:08)

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Do You Feel Like It?

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 21.15-17
15 If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

Reflection: Do You Feel Like It?
By Allen Hamlin Jr

In the age of “you do you,” we often feel more freedom to shape our identity, and we indulge ourselves to choose our own actions and responses. As a result, many have determined that there’s no obligation to do anything that falls outside of what they want, what they’re in the mood for, or what they think reflects the self that they want to present to the world.

Even in a life of faith, it’s easy to lean on our present emotions and our sense of self-determination to undergird the nature of our prayer and worship. Should I go to church? Should I give thanks? Should I praise?

I just don’t feel like it, so I won’t.

In the midst of establishing the law of the nation, the Lord sets forth a heavy chapter featuring five intense scenarios. Deuteronomy 21 addresses unsolved murder, prisoners of war, the death of defiant children, and capital punishment.

Within this litany of legislation is one contrasting presentation (v.15-17). Rather than an occasion of death, the focus is on love. What or whom we love often drives our actions and responses.

But the Lord says this should not be the case. Regardless of which son has the father’s favor (v.15), there is a reality that drives the right response. The firstborn is the firstborn, and shouldn’t be treated otherwise according to the father’s feelings (v.16-17).

Propriety is not based on our affections. My right actions are grounded in what is real, not in what I feel.

When we look at Jesus, we know that he too is the Firstborn–of all creation. He is the Heir. Whether I feel like worshiping or obeying him, the reality of his worth doesn’t change. And the proper response for us is to give him his due.

Even when I don’t feel like it, I will.

As Deut 21 shows us, despite questions, fickle desires, favorites, frustrations, or vindictiveness, we are called to remain rightly responsive to the realities of who God is, and who we are. God is the one who makes atonement (v.8), who sets us in right relationship with himself. Those truths remain the guardrails of our responses, whatever our hearts may feel in the moment.

Our calling is to do what is right in the sight of the Lord (v.9), rather than determining for ourselves what we want our engagement with God, and the world, to be.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who trust in him! — Psalm 34.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 21 (Listen 3:33)
Romans 1 (Listen 5:02)

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Marks of spiritual maturity include character growing in likeness to God and actions that demonstrate our love for God and care for his people.

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Faith Beyond Fear

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 20.1-4, 8
1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”

Reflection: Faith Beyond Fear
By Marisa Jenkins

The Israelites battled fear. In fact, this fear was so prevalent that, prior to going into battle, the officers were instructed to ask if anyone was afraid. Those in fear were to be sent home lest their fellow soldiers become fearful too, because fear is contagious.

But why should they feel afraid? God had proven his faithfulness to his people. He delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians as he told them to be still, their Lord would fight for them. (Exodus 14.13-14) Yet they began to look down at their circumstances instead of up, trusting in their Creator to fight for them. Instead of fearing what was in the battle, the Israelite soldiers needed to trust in God who sees beyond the battle.  

It’s easy to point the finger at the fearful Israelites, but aren’t we the same way? When our circumstances crumble, we struggle to see God. In difficult situations, it’s easy to lose heart and give in to fear. Like Peter, how many times have we taken our eyes off of Christ and begun to look at the troubling circumstances surrounding us, only to begin to sink? (Matthew 14.30)

The Lord was going with the Israelites to fight against their enemies. God was calling his people to trust him and not be fainthearted or afraid. Faith looks beyond fear. This is trust, to look farther than our eyes can see.

Maybe we are not facing a physical battle against a foreign enemy but, as believers, we face many different battles each day. A loved one fighting cancer. The constant onslaught of chronic pain. A child wandering from the Lord. Fear wants to creep in. Fear wants us to take our eyes off of Jesus and place them on our own circumstances. 

Just as the Israelites needed to trust God, just as Peter needed to focus his eyes on Jesus, we too must learn to trust. Without this trust, we will sink in fear.

But we don’t have to sink. We have a Heavenly Father who goes with us to fight against our enemies.(Deuteronomy 20.4) Faith chooses to trust God, knowing that he sees what we cannot. We also trust that, no matter what storms or enemies we face, God will be with us every step of the way.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
I will call upon God and the Lord will deliver me.
In the evening, in the morning, and at the noonday, I will complain and lament, and he will hear my voice.
He will bring me safely back…God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me. — Psalm 55.17-19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 20 (Listen 2:55)
2 Corinthians 13 (Listen 2:19)

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Love By Seeking the Truth

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 19.15
15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Reflection: Love By Seeking the Truth
By Susan P. Elliott

​​When Jesus was asked in the Gospels to rank the greatest commandment in the Old Testament, he responded that loving God and others was at the top of the list. All other commandments or laws explain how to do that. The book of Deuteronomy details how to love God and neighbor well.

Why were all these detailed instructions needed? After God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, they needed their own set of community rules to learn to govern themselves the way God intended in the promised land Moses was taking them to. 

Today’s scripture shows the wisdom of how to discern truth in a dispute. Two or three witnesses must agree when someone is accused of wrongdoing, ultimately revealing the truth of the situation and the witness’s heart for evil or good. This instruction expands on the ninth commandment not to bear false witness by giving accountability to the witnesses. God understands the nature of the human heart and wants to protect people from false accusations. When looking for truth, God’s wisdom reveals that you need more than just one side of the story.

In our context, we see the wisdom of this principle at play in our court system and in our homes, schools, and churches as we mediate disputes.  A wise person will listen to each side of the story before making a judgment. Listening to victims, whistleblowers, and the testimonies of the suffering, especially where multiple witnesses agree, shows God’s wisdom in this loving action.

Most people don’t turn to Deuteronomy for wisdom, but shouldn’t we? God gives clear instructions to his people so that justice can be served in his name. Love for God and others requires diligently pursuing the truth. Living as a citizen in the Kingdom of God requires wisdom. God shows us how to love him and others well in seeking truth.

You might remember the law about bearing false witness was broken in Jesus’ crucifixion trial. None of the witnesses could agree. (Mark 14.6) Truth can be found when we take the time to see what everyone has to say. Do we still rely on this practice today? If not, why? God knows it is both loving and wise to speak and listen to the truth. Obeying God in this way uncovers the truth and reveals the heart of those giving testimony.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 19 (Listen 3:04)
2 Corinthians 12 (Listen 3:54)

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It doesn’t matter how true your words are if they wound people…If you use truth to put people in this condition, what use is your “truth?”

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