Devotions

Hmmm….Easy Choice

• Deuteronomy 30:15 -16 - See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands.  The you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Some choices in life are pretty easy to make.  I mean if you said “Mark, I want to have lunch with you.  We can go to the Asian Pearl or Skyline Chili.  That’s a no brainer.  Or if you say hey Mark we can either play a round of golf, or go visit my dentist.  Easy choice.  Or how about the Church saying – Mark we want to give your family a week away – you can spend that week in a condo in Maui or you can spend that week in the Bates Motel in Vevay – hmm – let me think – yeah easy

I think the choice presented in this verse falls into that category.  The choice is between life and death, between prosperity and destruction.  The key word and the word you’re likely to skip in the passage is the word “then”.  The blessing of the Lord in this passage hinges on faithful obedience.  Our God is great and gracious, but he is not arbitrary in his blessings.  Listen we are saved by grace and I’ll preach that until I can’t preach but I equally believe God expects us to respond to his grace through our faith and obedience.  For us to sit on our hands and think we’re done is to miss the point by a thousand miles.

Christianity has always been a character profession.  To the extent that you honor and obey God to that extent you will be blessed.  To the extent that you dishonor, and disobey the Lord to that extent you will be cursed.  It’s not a matter of salvation by works, it’s a matter of responding correctly to the amazing grace of an amazing God.  I decided early on in my life that the choice between Heaven and Hell was an easy choice.  If you were to ask a stranger on the street does he want to spend eternity in Hell, he would say no.  But that man probably considers many alternatives after death.  Our job is to convince him of the simple choice that is his to make.  The Lord said I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  The choice is yours.  Choose wisely.