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. Deuteronomy 30
Everyone has to make their own CHOICE, God won’t force anyone to accept Him, we all have free will before Him. After Jesus was baptised in the Jordan river He was led by the Spirit into the desert where He was tempted three times by Satan. Each time He had to make a choice and each time He answered the devil by quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy. (I am reminded as I write this of Britain’s first lady Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. She was asked by a senior interviewer what she thought was the crux of Christianity. He hoped she would say Love to catch her in some difficult questions, but she answered, ‘CHOICE’.)
The next instruction is, ‘to LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD’. God wants relationship with us, now and for all eternity and He knows our hearts can be drawn away by other things. Religion is more about obedience, outward rituals and conformity, but God wants our love. He’s a Love God.
Next we are to, ‘LISTEN TO HIS VOICE’. This world is constantly bombarding us with a very different message. Satan always seeks to control the narrative and that is why so many people walk to, ‘a false beat’. They are completely absorbed by the things of this world but Scripture says EVERYTHING WE SEE NOW IS TEMPORARY. The Lord Himself told us,
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10
The final call in these verses is to, ‘HOLD FAST TO HIM. FOR THE LORD IS YOUR LIFE’. Could anything be more important than that statement, ‘The Lord is our Life’. But we have to endure and hold onto our Belief in Him. In this life, the Flesh/old rebel nature, this world system and the devil will try and get us to turn away from the Lord. We must REMEMBER, that He is our very LIFE. He doesn’t abandon us here, we always have His Spirit and mighty angels to help us walk through our personal journeys.
May God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.