Day 3 – Sunday, April 3, 2016
More than ten years ago, the Lord gave me a title of a book that I would one day write, and I have kept it tucked away in my heart ever since. When I first began my blog in 2013, I knew that eventually it would lead to the completion of that book. While it is not yet time to reveal the full title, I will share it partially, as it includes the phrase, “Well Dressed.” This phrase, however, has nothing to do with our outward appearance, but all to do with the way we clothe ourselves spiritually and mentally. As I have been preparing blog snippets for the 90-Day Life-Change Challenge, I have seen the correlation between subject matter and being “well dressed.” Therefore, my titles during this challenge will reflect a subject heading along these lines.
As I shared in my last blog post, we are faced daily with the decision to “choose life,” which looks different for every human being, and yet the same in some very essential behaviors. In Deuteronomy 30:15-18, just before Moses calls on heaven and earth to witness our choice of life, he declares:
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 obedience to him, 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.
Moses is very clear about what “life and prosperity, death and destruction” entail. “Life” includes loving God, walking in obedience to Him, and keeping His law. “Prosperity” includes living and increasing, a realization of His blessings on our endeavors, and expanded territory we shall possess amidst those endeavors. “Death” includes turning our hearts away from God, not being obedient, but being drawn to other gods to worship them instead. “Destruction” thus involves the forfeiture of our blessings and a short stay in what was once our promised home.
Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, the day we heard the angels ask, “Why do you look for the Living among the dead?” Why do we seek life where we can only find death? We are hard-wired to seek life—a true and lasting joy and happiness—but so often fall short of finding it because we look in the wrong place: turning our hearts away to other gods. But we must come to understand that our joy is not in a tomb. He walked out of that tomb and into our lives for eternity. Jesus is Life; only He can make that claim because He was raised from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit to live within each of His followers. He desires to be the Life in our time and reign over the time in our lives. Choosing life means we thus give up the pursuit of everything else but Christ. When we choose this Life, we are no longer slaves to that which will never love us back or bring lasting joy.
Tonight as I write in my journal, “choosing life” for me is found in the quiet, such a quiet space in my normally boisterous and hectic household comprised of three adults and four children under the age of ten. It’s that quiet, I can even hear the cheeping creatures outside and the wind and the distant cars passing by. I can hear the sound of my pen on this page and the Voice of the One who has been waiting for me to turn off the TV and listen. I hear, because I have chosen to put away the distractions and quiet myself at His feet. How are you choosing life tonight?
….Selah (pause and calmly consider this)….
The Art of Choosing True Life 