God's exclusive demands on His children

Reading Deuteronomy, it's struck me again and again that God commands His children to worship Him alone. Then in chapter 12, He tells them they must worship Him where He tells them to - it's not good enough to offer a sacrifice in your own back garden, or eat your vow offering in your own town. When they settle in Canaan, God is going to set one specific place where Israel must come to worship, and this is the only acceptable place.

And it makes me think about the attitude I've come across alot amongst non-Christians - "I think God is big enough to accept me however I come to Him - it doesn't matter what I call Him or how I worship. It's sincerity that matters."

But in this passage in Deuteronomy I learn something about how God deals with people: They must come on His terms, not theirs. So it's not enough to be sincere, I must come in the only way that is acceptable to God. Under the old covenant, there was a physical place. In the new covenant, there is a Person. God has set Jesus Christ forward as the only One through whom we can come to Him. He will not accept sincere worship if it is directed through anything but Christ. "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4v12).

Praise God for the precious Name of Jesus Christ, that brings me to God, and keeps me in Him for all eternity!