choose life

You Choose

Posted on by Betsy

A phone call between a young doctor in one hospital who was seeking the advice of an oncologist in another quickly became a matter of life or death. Cancer had been unexpectedly discovered as the patient lay open on the operating table. The question of how much tissue to remove prompted the oncologist to inquire about the patient’s age. Learning that she was a young woman of 20, he advised against the normal protocol of removing a significant amount of tissue, lest her fertility be impaired. Chemotherapy should resolve the rest, he postured. Little did he know that about eight years later, she would give birth to my first grandchild, the first of three. In that moment of life or death, he chose life for her future children, and we are forever grateful.

Our Scripture today is also about choosing life or death. Moses was giving his final message to the nation of Israel at the end of their wandering the desert for forty years and he clearly laid out the invitation to choose life. This discourse on blessings and curses was given to instruct them that blessings came through obedience to the covenant God had made with them. Obedience would result in fruit, as the Lord would help them prosper in every aspect of fertility. The land, their families, and their herds would all grow and flourish. It was a simple matter of keeping the Law, the statutes, and the commandments they had been given.

Deuteronomy 30 (Common English Bible)

9 The Lord your God will help you succeed in everything you do—in your own fertility, your livestock’s offspring, and your land’s produce—everything will be great! Because the Lord will once again enjoy doing good things for you just as he enjoyed doing them for your ancestors, 10 and because you will be obeying the Lord your God’s voice, keeping his commandments and his regulations that are written in this Instruction scroll, and because you will have returned to the Lord your God with all your heart and all your being.

God understood that the Law couldn’t be kept and so he allowed a system of sacrifice that brought atonement. We see the ultimate application of this in the advent of Jesus Christ, who came to be the last and final atonement for sin. Moses argued that choosing life was an easy task. The Israelites didn’t have to look far for the answers, because the answers were all incorporated in God’s Word. Good Jews studied and memorized the Scriptures and had them accessible in their hearts. All they had to do was choose to obey it.

11 This commandment that I’m giving you right now is definitely not too difficult for you. It isn’t unreachable. 12 It isn’t up in heaven somewhere so that you have to ask, “Who will go up for us to heaven and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?” 13 Nor is it across the ocean somewhere so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the ocean for us and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?” 14 Not at all! The word is very close to you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart, waiting for you to do it.

How about you? Have you studied God’s Word enough to have it imprinted on your heart? Have you memorized Scripture? Can you tell others what you have learned? The invitation today is the same as it was in Moses’ time. Choose life! It is all in your Bible, waiting for you to open and receive.

Fertile Life by Michelle Robertson

Choose Life

Posted on by Betsy

I have had a few days to spend time with grandkids, whose ages range from 9 months to 7 years old. As we were moving through those days, I kept hearing their mothers encouraging them to make good choices as they were being instructed and sometimes disciplined. I noticed a very strong correlation between having their full attention and their ability to choose the better way. When they were focused in, they did well. When they weren’t paying attention to the warnings, they often went the wrong way with their actions.

Looking around at all the adults I see, it seems we never grow out of that behavior!

Today, we will dip our toes into Moses’ river of thought and join him as he is reviewing the Covenant with the people of Israel. His words are stark and matter of fact. He gives them two choices:

Obey and be blessed.

Turn away and die.

Well, alrighty then! Any questions?

One would think that with the clarity of that message, the people would instantly do a face-palm and say, “Oh! Now I get it!’ But have you ever tried to follow God’s instructions precisely and to the letter? Or do you waver, wander, and fall away the minute you are distracted and tempted to follow your own way? We’re like the three-year-old who took the cookie anyway.

Deuteronomy 30 (Common English Bible)

15 Look here! Today I’ve set before you life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong. 16 If you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 

The nation of Israel was invited to live in the Promised Land. It was all laid out before them, in all of its milk-and-honey glory. God himself had carved a path through the wilderness, across the Red Sea, turning away their enemies and foes and creating a new life for them. There was only one more thing needed: they were required to walk in God’s ways and keep his commandments.

17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them, 18 I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land that you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess. 

Failing to live up to their part of the Covenant would result in death. They were warned about turning their hearts away from God and refusing to listen. They were warned about worshipping other gods and serving them. Their lives would be cut short for their disobedience.

19 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live— 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Choose life.

Moses’ woes and warnings turn into the sweetest enticement: Choose Life! In everything, in every way, we are called to choose life.

What are you doing right now that is killing your joy? Are there habits, behaviors, or addictions that are leading you to death? Are you in a job, a situation, or a relationship that causes you to be misled and turn your heart away from God?

What god are you worshipping?

Christ died so that you might choose life. Forgiveness and the atonement of sin are the hallmarks of the New Covenant. We stand on the precipice of the Jordan and have the same choice to make: we can choose disobedience, or we can choose what is good.

Choose the good.

River Crossing by Michelle Robertson