Everyone’s life is filled with decisions they must make. Most are not life or death decisions. Some are rather insignificant, such as decisions about what to eat, what to wear, what to do over the coming weekend. Others are much more important, such as whether or not to go to college, what career to pursue, who to marry, where to live. Though extremely important, they are still not life or death decisions. They will not affect you into eternity. Each of us will have to make a few life and death decisions throughout the course of our life. With that in mind, let’s look at our Scripture today where God’s Word instructs us on such decisions.
The Book of Deuteronomy was the final message that Moses gave to the people of Israel, right before they were to enter and take possession of the Promised Land, and right before his death. In it he restated some of the Laws given previously, and now that the book is coming to a close, Moses had several very important words to leave the people, and this was one. Moses stated that the people had a very important decision to make, one that had to be made. It was a clear choice: life or death, blessing or cursing. The decision hinged on obedience to God’s commandments and loyalty to Him alone, or to decide to disobey along with betraying and be disloyal to Him.
As our Scripture begins, Moses laid out before the people a very clear choice they had to make, a choice that we in our lives today must make, as well (vs. 15). It is a clear choice, as there are no gray areas here. Obedience to God will lead to life and blessings, whereas disobedience to Him and His Word will lead to death and judgment. There are some decisions that we make that do have divine consequences. This is one of the most important ones, and one that we all have to make in our lives.
God’s Word instructs us here that if we choose life and goodness, we need to love God (vs. 16). Loving God involves walking in His ways and keeping His commandments. We cannot possibly truly and honestly say that we love God if we disobey His Word, found in the Bible. Many people claim to love God, but pick and choose what they want to obey from the Bible. Jesus stated very plainly that if you love Him you will obey His commandments (John 14:15). Loving God leads to walking in His ways and keeping His commandments.
Moses then warned the people about turning their hearts away from God (vs. 17). Apostasy begins in the heart. Turning from God to serve other gods is spiritual adultery. This includes mixing the worship of Yahweh with that of other religions. Later, throughout the Old Testament, we see how the people turned to worshiping the pagan idols of neighboring countries. Some completely abandoned Yahweh, however many just mixed the worship of Him with other pagan gods. That was no better, as God abhors that just as much. God does not want us to mix in any other religious beliefs with our Christianity. He does not want us to sprinkle in a little Buddhism or New Age paganism, or anything else with our Christianity. Compromise is also spiritual adultery.
God’s judgment is certain for those who reject His covenant (vs. 18). When this verse said we would “perish” if we turned away from Him, it didn’t only mean physical death, but it also includes spiritual death, separation from God in torment for eternity. We see the seriousness of sin and the justice of God.
Just as Moses set the choice before the Hebrew people, God sets the same choice before us (vs. 19-20). We have the choice of life or death, blessing or cursing. The whole universe is our witness to the choice we will make. The choice is urgent and it is public. We are urged to choose life. It is a divine plea to each of us. The choice will both affect us for all of eternity, and it will also affect our descendants for generations. We are called to cling to the Lord God, for He is our life. He is not only the giver of our life, He is life itself, and abiding in Him is the only way to truly live.
God has given each of us the ability to make our own choice. Our decision is not forced upon us. However, God holds each of us accountable for the choice we make. To choose to obey God is not a drudgery. There are innumerable and countless blessings tied to being obedient to God and His Word. It is life or death, good or evil. God’s standards are clear and unchanging
Do we want the blessed, holy, and eternal life? Or do we want the sinful life of evil that brings death? We must decide whether we want to choose eternal life, to hear the Voice of the Lord and live a holy, set-apart life. It is up to us to choose life or death, blessings or curses.
No comments:
Post a Comment