Choose Life

So this is day 5 of the Daniel Fast and day 30 of my fast from Television.  My conclusion:  Fasting is a good thing.  I never realized how easy it is to get caught in these traps of the mundane, ordinary, and pointless.  I haven’t watched television for 30 days, and the interesting thing is is that I really haven’t missed it.  Maybe once for a short time, but I’ve come to realize it is such a waste of time and God has so much more for me.  I don’t have a lot of time and I want my time to count.  There’s so much more God has for me during the day then sitting down and watching an episode of Matlock or Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Yep, there’s more for me and for you.  Far more. 

The passage I have been meditating on is Deut. 30:11-20 and I especially want to highlight v. 15-16:

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ 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.

Moses gave this charge to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30, they were said to be “the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses.” (Deut. 29:1a).  At this period in Israel’s history they had been wandering in the desert due to their rebellion when they chose not to believe God could bring them into the land He promised.  Their wandering period was coming to a close; they were preparing themselves to enter into the Promised Land.  Moses reminds them, that like their forefathers, they have a choice to make.  They have seen the consequences that rebellion brings first hand and now they must make the choice for themselves. 

Will they choose life or death?  Moses gives them some very basic instructions on how to choose life, at least it sounds simple.  Ready? 

1.       Love God

2.      Walk in His ways

3.      Keep his commands

That’s it!  It sounds pretty simple, but when it comes to life and all of its complexities, and temptations it can be a bit challenging at times.  Moses actually repeats this again in v. 20 but adds a new twist “hold fast to Him.”  I like it.  We are called to Love God and hold fast to Him, why?  Because so often our allegiances go to other things, to worthless, pointless, mundane things.  Idols.  You know what I’m talking about.  Things that consume your time, things that you feel you have to have in order to be happy.  Things you put before God.  Trust me friends, we all have them; I’ve got a few myself.  It can even be as simple as TV or Facebook.

We are also told to walk in His ways and keep His commands.  Kind of goes with the first point doesn’t it?  The more I walk with Jesus, the more I realize a few things.  One, is that we have an Enemy, he’s called a Liar, a Murderer (John 8:44), an Accuser (Rev. 12:10), our Adversary, a Roaring Lion (1 Pet. 5:8-9), but most commonly known as Satan (Matt. 4:10), and the Devil (Rev. 12:9).  Yep, and he lives up to every one of his names.  So in light of this, the next thing I realize is, there are two paths we can choose in life, the path of the Roaring Lion or the path of the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6).  Which path would you rather follow?     

I know who I want to follow, Jesus Christ, THE Prince of Peace.  Friends, we can walk in peace; we can walk in victory, and in true unadulterated fullness in Christ.  It’s a daily choice.  May God grant us focus and courage to choose life, that the temptations of this life would not entangle us and lead us on a path to destruction.  Seems pretty serious?  Well, it is.  I want to get this point across.  We have an Enemy, and there are ways in our life that we bow to Satan and we do not realize it.  Ask God to show you the ways you’ve bowed to Satan’s lies in your life so we can walk away from them and start walking with Jesus on the path to life.  The Devil has taken far too much of our wholeness in Christ and it’s time to take a stand and claim it back in Jesus’ Name!