- Read Deuteronomy 7:1-5 out loud. What is your honest first reaction to these verses? Where does the difficulty sit for you — and does it change anything to notice that verse 5 aims the commands at altars and images rather than at people?
- In verse 7, God tells Israel he chose them because they were the smallest. Why do you think God grounds their identity in their insignificance? Where do you catch yourself wanting a better reason than “he loved you”?
- The New Testament keeps Deuteronomy’s demolition language (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) but moves the target from Canaanite hillsides to the human heart. What is one “fortress” in your own life that this language names?
- When Constantine legalized Christianity, the church gained protection, funding, and influence — and lost the ability to be a freely gathered people. Where do you see yourself accepting a bundle: something good that arrives attached to something that competes with Christ?
- Verse 25 warns against taking the silver off the idol. Name the “silver” — what your idol actually gives you that makes it hard to let go. Then talk about the difference between verse 22’s “little by little” and verse 5’s “tear down.” What in your life is genuinely a slow work, and what is something you already know needs to be dealt with this week?
