Chosen but Careful

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. (Deuteronomy 7)
As fallen sinners, we have a tendency to the extreme.  When guilt hits, we view ourselves as above hope, beyond grace. But then, when forgiveness is given, we often relax so much spiritually that we forget from whence we have fallen. We begin to think that we are worthy on our own accord, as if we are doing God a favor by being His people.  God is faithful; we - not so much.  Careful is the word God uses here as a reminder. Careful does not mean worrying that God is going to bash us on the head, or smash us in a fit of rage; it means we realize and live as if we are recipients of His loving grace and mercy, and lovingly want to please Him, and do not take His grace for granted. Rejoice that you are chosen, but be calmly careful that God deserves our loving obedience.