Author: Scott

If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. Deuteronomy 23:24 Having been addicted to opioids, I’ve now been sober for the last 10 years. This means that I’ve been abstinent of all mood-altering substances, including…
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If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. Deuteronomy 23:21-22 Patient, “I swear I’m going to…
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You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. Deuteronomy 23:12-13 As we’re building a house, I’m realizing all…
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When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. Deuteronomy 23:9 Years ago, I found myself in significant conflict with someone in my church. I knew for an absolute fact that I was right, and that this other individual was wrong. Oddly, it didn’t feel like everyone was…
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If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. Deuteronomy 22:22 Years ago, in jest, I told some coworkers that if they ever wanted to feel better about themselves,…
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And they shall say to the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. Deuteronomy 21:20-21 I don’t primarily have a drug problem. Rather, I…
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If a man has two wives . . . Deuteronomy 21:15 As I was preparing to leave treatment 10 years ago, I felt oddly confident that I had life all figured out. I’d returned to my faith in Christ, found an authentic recovery, and was prepared to follow God’s plan for my life. I wasn’t…
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When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Deuteronomy 20:19 My entire life, I’ve had two appetites in conflict within me.…
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Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own. Deuteronomy 20:8 I’ve never really spent a lot of time thinking about the culture at my workplace. That is, I’ve never spent a lot of time thinking…
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Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory. Deuteronomy 20:3-4 Those…
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