Choose Life!

Hi friends,

Sometimes there are things in the Bible that are complicated or difficult to understand, and other times there are things that are so simple, yet it can take our whole lives to actually live them out! Deuteronomy 30 shows how Moses presents Israel with a very simple choice as they move forward into the Promised Land:

"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" (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

When I was reading this chapter the two words that stood out to me when it comes to choosing life were love and obey. The thing is, choosing life isn't just a casual choice we make, like ticking a box on a form that says 'life' rather than the one that says 'death'. This choice is played out in the other choices we make in life. That is why love and obedience are linked to choosing life. We have to start with love for God - without that, any choices we make will be surface-level and motivated by the wrong things, so will not produce lasting fruit. Love for God needs to be our motivation for the choices we make.

But love, by its very nature, results in obedience. Jesus said "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching." (John 14:23). We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we can profess love for God but continue to ignore His loving instruction. Yes, God is abundantly gracious and continues to pursue us when we mess up and disobey, either in ignorance or blatant disobedience. However we need to be aware that life in all its fullness (the life Jesus has come to give us) is found on the pathway of obedience. So let us continue to choose this life out of love for God that is expressed in simple, childlike obedience to His voice.

This page already had some journaling notes on it from a previous reading of this passage, so I decided to stamp and colour around them so they formed part of my illustrated page. I used the stunning Rose Banner set to stamp the roses and butterflies, then coloured with Inktense pencils and an aquabrush (my favourite way of colouring!). The words were stamped with the new Teeny Alpha set, along with the 'life' from Message of Hope.

      

Can I encourage you to reflect upon what choosing life looks like for you? What areas of heart motivation might God be gently highlighting? Are there choices to be made that require obedience? God will continue to lead and encourage us as we follow the example of Jesus in choosing life!

x Amy x