In an April 1963 magazine, a travel company ran an advertisement with this tagline: “Sit back. Relax. You deserve it.” It was one of the first advertisements to try to sell its product by appealing to a sense of entitlement. Today this kind of language is ubiquitous. Our culture has taught us to believe that our worth and value takes top priority.

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses had a very different message for the children of Israel. As they were poised to enter the Promised Land, he knew the people would be tempted to interpret their success wrongly. In chapter 8, Moses confronted the idea that they would be successful because of their own power and wisdom (8:17). Today, Moses confronts the temptation to think that God would give them the land because they were morally superior and deserved it.

Three times, Moses reminded the people, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going to take possession of the land” (9:5). Instead, they should remember how rebellious they had been toward God. Moses reminds them of their betrayal with the Golden Calf (vv. 7–21) and of their murmuring and unbelief in the wilderness (vv. 22–24). He concludes, “You have been rebellious against the LORD ever since I have known you” (v. 24)!

We too are the recipients of God’s grace. We could not save ourselves from slavery to sin. We could not reconcile ourselves to God. But God made a way for us through the work of Jesus. As Paul reminded Titus, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures…but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:3–5).

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