Matters of Life and Death

I'm doing a Bible study with some ladies called "The Inheritance" by Beth Moore. We just started but the intro was so intriguing and the concept has been on my mind all week.  God said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers as an inheritance." God issued an invitation, an inheritance, to each of us, back in the beginning and is still offering it today. The offer is life. Yes eternal life, but I believe for those of us who believe and have eternal life already we can still choose life or death every day by the way we live. He offers abundant life here and now. . . . "I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it more abundantly." -John 10:10. . . "I am the resurrection and the LIFE. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives in Me and believes in Me shall never die." -John 11:25-26. . . "Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. "-John 14:6. In HIM we can have abundant, flowing, vibrant life! I became a Christian when I was 7 years old. I received eternal life then. But I can look at my life and see times when I have chosen the abundant life God wanted me to have, and times I chose death and destruction. Every time I have not followed God, there has been death in some form or another. ("Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." -James 1:15; "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" -Romans 6:16) When I sin, I am choosing death. Bad attitudes, hurtful words, prideful thoughts, all lead to death. Death of some of the love and respect between Brian and me when I choose hurtful words. Death of part of my children's spirits when I discourage or nag them. BUT, I can also choose life. I can choose to spend intimate time with the One who is Life. I can choose to obey His Word. I can choose to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. I can choose to love others with my actions and words ("He who does not love his brother abides in death." -1 John 3:14b). I can choose life-giving attitudes. Life-giving words of blessing and not cursing. I can even choose life in the food I feed my children! As God's Word says, I have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14a).

I have been challenged this week to look for ways I can choose abundant life and not death, that me and my descendants may live and dwell in the land God promised.