My daughter's family lives with us right now as they are saving up to by a house some day. When the moved into the house they brought their two cats and their one very very old dog. He is blind in one eye and almost completely deaf. More than once I thought he had seen his last day and wouldn't be alive when I got home from work. A few months ago my daughter brought home a puppy that she found along side the road - a girl, and brought her home. All of a sudden this old dog has come alive and is running and playing with more energy than I've ever see him have. I guess you might say - he has chosen life!
In this passage - the children of Israel are standing on the border of the land that God has promised to them. They are ready to go in to conquer the land and Moses is telling them the conditions by which they can remain in this good land.
Notice what he tells them - "“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil." These were set before them that they might choose between them. The same choices are set before us also.God does not force us to live the good life. You can choose to do evil and suffer the consequences of death. I can choose how I want to live - who I want to love and associate with - who I will serve.
Creating man with the capacity of choice would be meaningless if there weren't something to choose. You can choose life today or you can choose to live in sin and mediocrity. In actuality - we become the product of our choices. You really can't blame God for what you have become, you are what your are as a result of the choices you have made.
So, what is the choice of the good life - it is to love The Lord your God with all your heart. God want you to love Him preeminently - to not have any gods before Him - to love Him first, and foremost. He wants your love for Him to exceed every other love in your life - that there would be no other love competing for your love.
He wants you to walk in His ways which is in constrast to walking in your own way. We are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding, to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and we have the promise that He will direct our paths.
As you read through this passage you will notice what the results will be for those who walk in His ways... The results will be: 1. You will live in the land that God has given you and multiply. 2. The Lord will bless you in the land He is giving you to possess. 3. Life, blessing and prosperity.
The opposite is true also that if we choose the evil path - we are choosing the path that leads to death. It is the path that allows you turn away from God - refusing to hear from God - to neglect coming to church - and worshipping your own pleasures. The results are simple - death (both here on earth - a spiritual death and eventually in eternity - an eternal death).
The choice is before you today - Life or death. As for me - I CHOOSE LIFE!
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