Choose Life!

Deuteronomy 30: 11 – 18 (NIV): Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 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, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy is a big ole' word that simply means “the second law”. The book is basically three sermons from Moses, just before the Israelites left the desert and entered the promised land. He is not giving a second set of laws, but reminding them of the laws God had already given, including the Ten Commandments. Today's passage is part of Moses' farewell speech.

He says it's not hard to obey God. We already know what God wants from us. We don't have to wait for someone to go up to heaven and find out, or cross the sea to get God's instructions. It's in our hearts, because God placed a desire for him in each of us, and its in our “mouth”. This may mean that Moses had given the law to the people in their own language and in a way that they could discuss it and understand it. It's not some foreign law that is across the sea and too hard for us to understand, it is simple: love God, love each other, obey God's Commands.

Moses said the people had two choices: Obey God and live, or disobey God and die. Life can really be boiled down to these two choices. As a people, the Israelites would fail or succeed based on which decision they made. We can see in History that this was true.

We, as individuals, face the same two choices today. If we run after other gods, we can expect God's punishment; if we love God with all of our hearts, we can expect his blessings. God's Laws are not too difficult for us to understand and obey; we can do it. Remember, the Law was divided into three parts: Ceremonial, Civil and Moral. We Gentile Christians today are not bound to the Ceremonial or Civil Laws – Jesus fulfilled and completed them (Paul discusses this in Galatians 3 – 5). Choose life! Love God.