CHOOSING LIFE... AND DEATH

Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20; Luke 11:37-12:7; Psalm 78:1-31; Proverbs 12:19-20

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the Lord your God, and to obey him, and commit yourself to him, for he is your life.”

“What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

‘Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.”

God actually wants us to win. Judgment brings Him no pleasure. He cares whether we go to heaven or hell. God implores us to choose life, and blessings. The Spirit’s heart’s desire is that we all spend eternity with Him. In part, that’s just what Love does. But it’s also significant that Creation, for God, is never an assembly line process. Each person is unique, for a reason. We were designed to fit a special place in His Body. That’s why Jesus died: to bring us back into fellowship with God, to fulfill our destiny and His purposes for us. So, Christ made us winners. But because I forget all that, I fear. I fret and worry. I give up on myself. Consequently, I give up on Christ, wondering, once more, if He can and will really save me.

What a stupid way to live! Talk about beaten before I start! I am literally giving up the position of blessing and peace Jesus gave me in the first place. It may be a natural, human reaction. It may be spiritual inertia. It may, on occasion, even be Satan. But whatever it is, it’s the wrong perspective.

It bears repeating, every day: Christians start out as winners. By definition, we are forgiven; given the Holy Spirit to guide and instruct us; and empowered to be the very hands and feet of Christ, to be conduits of grace. In short, we begin with abundant life! As long as we continue to claim the blessing, it is ours for the asking. We fail, fear and worry only because we choose not to affirmatively choose life.

That seems critically important to me. Moses was very clear: the only choice we have to make is a positive one, for life. We just have to decide to hold onto and develop our favored position of grace and all it represents. Yet, if I am honest, this is very contrary to the way I normally think, however subconsciously I may think it. I don’t affirmatively choose life very often. I usually worry about losing it, about losing blessings. In other words, I don’t play to win; I play not to lose. And I’m beginning to suspect there is a massively critical, eternal difference between those two views.

Death is a default; the Bible says it is the natural, human inevitability. It requires no effort, no character, no choice at all. It is the automatic result of any failure not to affirmatively choose on a daily basis the life Christ died to give us. Because only the affirmative choice for Christ brings with it the supernatural power not just to live life, but live it to the full. Brothers and Sisters, we are heirs of Christ. We can, and should, think with the mind of Christ. We are adopted sons and daughters of God. It’s time to experience, and quit wasting, our given inheritance. I figure that, if we begin choosing life, we’ll also begin to experience a lot more of the Truth of God and know Him, and the security of our own potential in Him, much better.