Developing Strong Christian Lives

The Bible Teaching Commentary

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Paul J. Bucknell

Introduction | A. Embrace | B. Understand | C. Respond | Podcast

Purpose: Deuteronomy 8:1-20 shows how we develop a strong Christian life in three ways: embrace God’s good purposes, understand life’s experiences, and respond to God’s work in our lives.

Introduction

Many times, when we face troubles in our lives, we look for quick solutions. We try this and that. More often than not, these quick remedies do not bring the cure we seek. We often waste time and money. Usually, if we do find a solution quickly, we soon realize it can't truly solve our problem. Disappointment follows, and later maybe depression. Many, but not all, troubles stem from our unwillingness to face the real issue. It's like someone who just wrote to me after I confronted him with the truth: “I have always known the truth about my life, I guess the truth is harder to accept than I ever expected.” It’s much like painting.

We want our walls to look nice. They are covered in dirt and have extensive peeling and cracking. The temptation is just to paint over it. We tell ourselves, “It will look so much better.” But the problem will come back soon, because the old paint wasn’t scraped off properly, so the new layer won't last long. We are often too unwilling to face the real problems in our lives.

I hope to take a deeper look at our Christian lives in Deuteronomy 8. We will not find all of our answers here but will develop a general framework to approach life's questions through a better understanding of how God interacts with His people.

We can fall into confusion, depression, and rebellion if we are not careful. God warns His people about these dangers here. The point is that we need to remember His ways. Deuteronomy 8:2 and 8:8 both use the phrase, “You shall remember.” This idea is similar to a New Testament phrase, “renew your mind.” We need to know the truth and recall it. The experiences that the Lord has led us through become a valuable asset for living a Christ-filled life.

Perhaps this is even more important for those who are familiar with the Bible and the church. We can easily take the basics for granted. However, the Lord, through Moses, is calling us to renew our commitment to Him by remembering or renewing our minds. Unfortunately, many Christians have never been trained to understand how God works through and in a person’s life. In Deuteronomy 8, we discover three major things that will help us develop a strong Christian life.

A.) Embrace God’s good purposes: We strengthen our faith and ward against doubt by recalling God’s good purposes, even during tough times.

B.) Understand life’s experiences: We deepen our intimacy with the Lord by remembering His wonderful ways in our past and future plans ahead.

C.) Respond to God's work in our lives: We develop a strong Christian life by obeying and remembering Him.

Let’s look at these one by one.

Next -> A.) Embrace God’s good purposes