So here's my verses...they come from Deuteronomy 30. This is my plea, if you don't have a bible, get a bible app and look for yourselves at this proclamation. See if any of this could possibly make sense as you chew on my perspective and more importantly the divinely inspired Word of God. Take my perspective for what it is worth, but the words you read in the Bible, let it penetrate your mind and heart. For every time you have wanted to blame God or Christians for a lack of compassion or hatred or judgement, stare at God. Consider this text,
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 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?” 13 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?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 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 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.
17 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, 18 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.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In life we have choices. Although this particular passage refers to Moses and his proclamation to the Israelites, there are choices here that apply to all of us. And this is what I want to remind us of....
I want us to look at these words, that God commanded Moses to speak. God gives us a choice here. He says, "choose Me, choose life". He doesn't force the Israelites to do anything against their will, although He was angry. He gives them a choice. You know what, some of those Israelites didn't choose Him. They walked away, and chose their own way of living. On the other hand, some of the Israelites did choose life, they did choose to follow God and His law. And so it went for generation upon generation, ruler after ruler, king after king. Fast forward to Jesus' day. Jesus came down because we, the people God created, continued in sin, walking away from Him and living lives of disobedience. People like Zaccheus who Jesus visited in his home, was a tyrant as a tax collector. Jesus entered into his life and showed him compassion, to which Zaccheus was then converted and became a Jesus follower. Prostitutes, murderers, adulterers are all people that Jesus showed compassion to, He loved them, He shared truth and grace while healing them, feeding them and discipling them. I am going to guess that anyone reading this knows the rest of the story, but if not, I ask that you seek Him yourself. That man-God, Jesus, spent his normal everyday life, come down from heaven, around sinners, sharing life with them. He did it for His Father, and fully knew what those same sinners would then do to Him. Let's recognize here what Jesus did after He hung there on the cross, because the rulers and authorities and the commoner put Him there. These words are not to hard for us to grasp in our minds, but almost too much for us common folk sinners to want to receive. He said, "Father forgive them, because they DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING". Could it be true, dare I say, WE, Christian or Non, pro choice or pro life do not know what we are doing? Yes, WE do have deprived minds, apart from Christ alone. To my Chritstian Brother and Sister, please remember from the height of which you have fallen. Let's see what Paul said about himself and each of us in 1 Timothy 1:15-17
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Oh Jesus, Thank you that when I was a young, rebellious, broken 19 year old wallowing in my own drunkeness and self-centeredness on a dorm room bathroom floor you bent down and lifted me out of a life of poor choices. God, thank you for the patience you have with me through my many heart wrenching, sinful decisions. I praise You for loving me enough in my sin to die for me, and even to forgive me while I continue to sin, 21 years later. God the mercy and grace you have lavished upon me is literally too much for me to bear, and I sometimes can't comprehend a love or God so magnificent.
My message for all of us, is that yes we can chime in with our opinions, take sides and even curse each other on social media, but what good does it do? Many would argue that politics are politics, and we are all entitled to our opinion. I am not saying I disagree that there isn't a place for all of it, but I do want us to rationally choose life, not just by action but with our words posted through our social media "conversation". I, more than anything want us people, image bearers of God, (whether you believe the truth or not), to love our neighbor. Social media has its purpose, but we hide behind it, voicing an opinion and taking a stand on issues that affect all of us, but rarely do we relate to one another. I want us to think beyond ourselves and have compassion on those who surround us, who are making choices that although we may not agree with are still HUMAN. God created us for relationship, first with Him and then with each other. Our choice, dating back to Adam and Eve, was to disobey God and to destroy the relationship He intended for each one of us. So in the end, let's question our own choices. I believe now more than ever He wants us all to be brave, to choose Him, in spite of what others say, and then to choose to come alongside the broken, the confused, the deprived minded neighbor (including ourselves who profess faith in Christ) and choose Life.
What if lives were changed by a decision to be loving, to lavish grace and mercy and patience on each other and that ultimately led those who don't believe to the cross of Jesus Christ and those of us who do believe even closer to Him who set the example? What if we prayed for our neighbor, instead of making them our enemies. I implore you to enter into face to face relationship with the hurting. That is what God did. It is there that real life is found. It's in dying to ourselves, our opinions our thoughts, our agendas that living happens. Not one of us is worthy or worth it. That is why God offers unconditional love. This all becomes real when we are faced with the choosing. I look at my own life, the generations past and the generations to come. I wonder who my grandma loved and prayed for more of her two alcoholic sons...the one who is a pastor in a local church or the one who literally drank himself to death? I wonder who God loves more my sister and brother in law who chose to have their baby at age 18 and 19 or my friend who decided she wasn't fit to be a teen mother and ended the life of her baby, only now being haunted by that decision. What choices will my own children make that will marginalize them? Does God love me more, the American living the American dream or the young lady in Nepal that is tormented by demons my missionary friends wrote about and are praying for?
Let's not forget who we are. Let's not forget the price that was paid for us. Let's not forget that behind every screen, and every door, and in every human heart eternity was placed. Let's not forget that we were meant for relationship. Let's remember He chose us. Let's remember that we can choose Him. Let's remember that the choices we make lead to life and death, either figuratively or personally, directly or indirectly.
Yes, life is full of choices. I am compelled to ask, does God love me because of the choices I have made and will make or in spite of them?...Go ahead and sit with that for awhile, let it humble you. And then, for as much as it is within your power to do so, choose life, that you may live.
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