Deuteronomy 16:21–22: “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.”

March 3rd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In Deuteronomy 16, God reminded His people once again to be careful not to copy the worship of the locals, the Canaanites, when they got into the land. He reminded them of this over and over again because it was so important. Today we are also, after we receive salvation, left among the locals in order to change them, to change the world, not to have them change us. A recent American poll showed that a majority of parents don’t think peer pressure is a significant influence in their children’s lives. However, on the other hand, 75% of the teenagers said their peers influence them more than their parents or anyone else. We all need to be more aware of the force of peer pressure, but parents especially need to understand the pressure it exerts on their children.

There is an ancient Aesop’s fable concerning this concept. A man wished to purchase a donkey, and agreed with the donkey’s owner that he would try the animal out before he bought him. He took the donkey home and put him in the straw-yard with his other donkeys. The new donkey immediately found and joined the donkey that was the laziest and biggest eater. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. The owner asked him how in so short a time he could have made a trial of the donkey, and the man answered, “I do not need a trial. I know that he will be just like the one he chose for his companion.” We have often heard that as believers we are called to be in this world but not of it. We must be around some bad company if we are to share Jesus with this generation, but we must be extremely careful not to become identified with those outside the body of Christ and end up becoming like the company we keep.

“LORD please make us strong so we can love the sinner but hate the sin enough to be useful to You. We want to be part of Your solution for saving this world, God, not part of Your problem.”

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Deuteronomy 16 KJV

¹ Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. ² Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. ³ Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. ⁴ And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. ⁵ Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:  ⁶ But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. ⁷ And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. ⁸ Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein . ⁹ Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. ¹⁰ And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God , according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:  ¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there. ¹² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. ¹³ Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:  ¹⁴ And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. ¹⁵ Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. ¹⁶ Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: ¹⁷ Every man shall giveas he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.  ¹⁸ Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ¹⁹ Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.  ²⁰ That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.  ²¹ Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. ²² Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.