"CHOOSE LIFE!"

DEUTERONOMY 30:19, 20

A certain lady went from village to village peddling her wares. Frequently on her journeys she would come to a fork in the road and would have to decide which road to take. She had a strange method for making her decision. She would take a stick, toss it into the air, and follow whichever path the stick seemed to be pointing to after it hit the ground. On one such occasion, the lady was seen tossing the stick into the air repeatedly. A curious passerby asked what she was doing. She explained her process and said, "The stick keeps pointing to the left fork and I wish to go to the right." She had a choice to make, thought she had a method for making that choice, but in the final analysis, wanted to go the way she wanted to go, stick or no stick. Another lady, a school teacher in Chama, New Mexico also had a choice to make. She met a young businessman. Their acquaintance grew into friendship, their friendship into love and their love into a decision to marry. The teacher was of age and was independent but wanted her father's approval of the marriage. Surprisingly, the father was resistant to the marriage. He thought she ought to remain single. He was opposed, as he said, "on general principles." Still, she made arrangements with the fiancé to visit the ranch in Alamosa. When he arrived, the father said, "He will not enter my house!" The young lady was confronted with a choice. Would she give up her marriage to please her father, or would she risk his disapproval and marry the man of her heart? God, in the text, sets forth a choice, "life or death, blessing or curse." It is God's intention for us, while still giving us the freewill choice, that we choose life. He even tells us exactly how to choose life:

• WE CHOOSE LIFE BY LOVING GOD:
• The word for "love" here means "to have affection for, to be friendly toward, and to have our hearts with" God.
• The identical word is used to describe the kind of love
• Isaac knew for Rebekah in Genesis 24:67. The love of a man for his wife.
• Isaac held for Esau and Rebekah for Jacob in Genesis 25:28. A love that prefers one above another.
• That shows a preference, devotion, and partiality toward the beloved.
• Loving God is
• Showing absolute favoritism toward God in regard to anyone or anything else, even lawful and good people and things.
• Serving Him as the utmost and absolute authority in our lives.
• Loving Jesus Christ because "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." 1 John 5:1.
• An action, not a feeling or emotion.
• If we love
• The world, we will perish with it because "the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:17.
• Evil it will destroy us "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries." Hebrews 10:26, 27.
• The material, temporal things, they will fail us "For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations." Proverbs 27:24.
• God, all His covenant, all His mercies, all His promises become ours to possess.

So, who or what do we love most? The young school teacher loved her father, but she also loved her fiancé. Which love would she obey? Who would prevail? In our own lives there are conflicting affections. Daily we face a test of love. The Lord wants us to love him as this young lady loved the young man. But as the father sought to destroy that relationship, so the devil, the world, and our own fleshly passions, seek to destroy our relationship with God. Who will win? What will we obey? God says that if we want to choose life, there is but one choice.

• WE CHOOSE LIFE BY OBEYING GOD'S VOICE:
• The word for "obey" means to "regard, or pay attention, or to consent to, or to heed" God's word.
• When King Saul took things into his own hands and offered sacrifices which only the Levitical Priests were to offer, Samuel spoke these profound words: And Samuel said, "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." 1 Samuel 15:22, 23.
• But what would motivate, what would produce obedience?
• Fear of God. Reverence, respect, awe of His person, power, and authority.
• Assurance that His way is best.
• The assured benefits attached to obedience.
• God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey. Acts 5:32.
• God saves those who obey for "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 5:9.
• An abiding in Jesus' Love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10.
• To obey can cause a turmoil within us
• It goes against natural human nature.
• It is contra all our selfish tendencies.
• It is cross purposes with prideful self assertion.
• It demands humble self-surrender.

We all have a choice to make and often that choice brings unrest. The young school teacher's heart was in turmoil and churned within her. She loved her father, and she loved her man. He had arrived at the ranch and her father refused him admittance. She appealed, as she had been doing, to her father to see things differently, but he was unmoved and unbending. She saw her fiancé approaching the door, she saw the firm set of her father's jaw, and had to choose. To which would she cling? To which would she give her ultimate loyalty? When we are pulled in the direction of God or pulled away from Him, we actually determine which way we will go. We are free to decide. God won't force us, Satan cannot force us. Choose we must. And God says that to choose life there is but one loyalty.

• WE CHOOSE LIFE BY HOLDING FAST TO GOD:
• The word "hold fast" means "to cling or adhere, to abide fast, to follow closely."
• It is the same word used
• By God for a man cleaving to his wife suggesting the permanence of marriage.
• By Ruth to declare her commitment to her mother-in-law Naomi.
• Holding fast to God is a
• determination to cling to, to grasp, to hold tight, to adhere, and to abide faithfully in Him.
• dedication to serve Him and to serve only Him and to serve Him no matter what. It is the attitude of John Milton, the English poet, who endured much suffering when at the height of his writing career his eyesight began to fail. Had he not been a devoted follower of Christ, he might have become bitter. Yet, as the darkness closed in on him he said, "My soul was thus bent to serve more acceptably my Maker."
• deliberate shunning of anything that competes in anyway with Him as the Sovereign of our life.
• decisive fastening to Him as iron to a magnet, as a flower seeking sunlight and as Velcro to Velcro.
• Holding to God means letting go of something else:
• Godless self-will, self-seeking and self-determination needs to be relinquished.
• Relationships that defile and corrupt us need to be aborted.
• Attitudes that crowd out Christlikeness need to be crucified.

We have a choice to make. The school teacher also had a choice to make. She would stay single as her father demanded, or she would follow her commitment to her fiancé. It could not be both. As the knock resounded on the door, the young teacher threw her arms around her father's neck, hugged him tightly, kissed his cheek, committed her undying love to him, and with a tearful farewell ran into the waiting arms of her fiancé. They were married in Santa Fe and lived a long and happy life together. He was sure of her love for her because of the high price she was willing to pay to choose him. What evidence is there for God to see that you love him? That you will obey His voice? That you will cling to Him no matter what else you must relinquish? There are two ways open to us: life and death. This is one of life's concerns that demands a clear-cut decision. Your own free-will is going to take you one way or the other. You will choose right or wrong but you cannot have it both ways. You will align yourself with God or against Him because He will not allow neutrality. God calls us to choose which it will be. We are free to choose and God will not interfere with that freedom but he will hold us responsible for our choice. We are urged to choose quickly for God sets the choice before us today. We are constrained to choose because we cannot remain unbiased. Which will it be? Life or death? Blessing or cursing? Will you belong to God or to the world? The choice is yours! Therefore, choose!

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