Choosing Life
I can’t believe that September is almost here! Not sure about you, but I am excited for fall! It is my favorite season. The cooler crisp mornings, sweaters, and even darker mornings are welcomed after a lovely summer. I love the cozy welcoming feelings fall brings.
I recently finished reading Deuteronomy, which is Moses’ final address to the Israelite Nation before they enter the Promised Land. For 40 years they have wandered and been refined in the wilderness. And this is Moses’ final address with an offer to either choose LIFE or Death:
The Choice of Life or Death Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (emphasis added)
11For this commandment I give you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12It is not in heaven, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’ 13And it is not beyond the sea, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’ 14But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.
15See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster. 16For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
17But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, 20and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
This promise of choosing life over death is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. Why? Because God is unchanging. This promise now lies in Christ, who is God in the flesh, God in human likeness.
When we choose to follow HIM, we are choosing LIFE and life more abundantly. (John 10:10) When we seek HIM, we learn and see that He is Life GIVING. We no longer want to live a life running after our own desires and wants, but after the one who perfects, corrects, and refines our lives for HIS glory. When we choose LIFE we see that it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill HIS good purpose, and not ours. (Philippians 2:13) We learn that our calling is to FOLLOW JESUS and to live out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, no matter what vocation we choose in life.
When we choose LIFE we learn, see, AND experience these blessings that flow, which are then generationally handed down to our children. As they watch their parents Choose Life, they physically see the promises of God be poured out on their parents. They have physical evidence of who God is when their parents live a life following Jesus.
Deuteronomy 11:18-19 says:
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
You may not have children to pass this blessing on to, but I can guarantee you are surrounded by people. When we choose Life, when we choose to follow the example Christ gave us on earth and those around us are watching the WHY. They see a life living counter to the culture surrounding them. They hear the words that are coming from our mouths and do not hear a language that looks and sounds the same to theirs. They should hear Life Giving words. And those around us will see and witness a life that won’t be eliminated from the struggles of life, however, the worries of this world and the circumstances we experience will have a different filter in how we react to them.
We all have a choice on how we will walk through life’s circumstances and experiences. When we choose life, when we choose to walk as Jesus walked, when we choose to follow HIS example and live a life selflessly and not selfishly, our whole perspective changes. We have a deeper desire to know the God who created this universe, we desire to have a true relationship with Him and not a religion, and we take off our self-focused glasses and walk in His blessings of choosing a Life lived for Him.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
