Issue 1171 – Choices – June 7, 2023

We see a tree as we travel to Cascade Falls that always catches my eye. Like the one from this stock image, it is dead on one side and healthy on the other. I’ve tried a couple of times to get a good photo of it but haven’t managed to take one I am happy with.

That tree makes for an excellent visual illustration for a passage I read recently in the bible.

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

These few verses come at the end of a much longer passage where the Lord renews His covenant with His people and calls them to repent. He gives them a choice, a blessing for following Him or suffering for rejection. They were God’s chosen people, and He will always love them. Still, the Lord wanted them to have an intimate, active relationship with Him.

All people are called to choose to reject Christ or accept Him. We can open our hearts to Him and have everlasting life or turn Him away and have endless suffering.

Even after accepting Christ, believers still have many opportunities to bring the Lord glory and honour or face the consequences of dishonouring and disobeying Him. 

We face a plethora of choices daily.

When a sales clerk gives us too much change, do we return it or pocket it?

Do we gladly respond to the offering plate, or give we give begrudgingly?

Do we consciously try to forgive and seek reconciliation or harbour ill will and bear grudges?

Do we take a few office supplies home because “everyone else does it” or not?

Do we pursue that lustful thought?

I could go on for hours listing common scenarios, but I think you get the idea. There are opportunities to choose God’s way multiple times every day. Every waking hour gives us a choice to follow God or ignore Him.

Once we belong to Christ, our choices aren’t issues of salvation but obedience. Still, every choice comes with a consequence or a reward.

Which way will you choose? Do you choose the path of life or the way of death? May all your choices honour the Lord.

Be Blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)

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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2023 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV). 

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