It Is Decision That Determines Your Destiny Series

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

The above text verse tells us that “the Lord has “set before us life and death, blessings and curses” and we are advised to “choose life, so that you and your children may live.” The choice is ours to make. We live in an era of seemingly unlimited choices. This means we are confronted with so many decisions. There is such a thing as decision exhaustion as we are bombarded with having to make a multitude of decisions daily. The passage above relates to an episode in the history of Israel. These words which were addressed to Israel as a people, applied to each individual in particular; for the individual alone is free and responsible. To each human being the command is given, "Choose." What would happen to you if you were in the same valley of decision between these two mountains?

THIS CHOICE IS TO BE MADE BETWEEN TWO OPPOSITE ROUTES. "I have set before you life and death."

GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. He was before all things; in him, they live and move and have their being; by him, all things consist. Life physical is from him; but so also, and in a much fuller fashion, is life spiritual. The inner man is from him and depends upon him for sustenance. And when his only begotten Son came into the world, he gave him to have life in himself (John 5:26), so that of him it could alone be said, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). We recognize in God, therefore," the Fountain of living waters," from which, to their great damage, men are separating themselves, as if the broken cisterns of their hewing could ever slake their thirst (Jeremiah 2:13).

The life God offers—the life Israel was to choose—was lived out in worship of God, in purity, justice, fairness toward the weak and poor, and through obedience to all the instructions Moses had laid out. Choosing life was choosing the Lord’s way above their own. Any other choice would lead to tragedy and death. We choose life when we choose God, who is the giver and sustainer of life (Acts 17:25). The Bible says God breathed the breath of life into humans (Genesis 2:7). Since our lives are a gift from God (Psalm 139:13; Acts 17:28), our highest aim ought to be living for Him.

Jesus said, “If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.” (Matthew 10:39, CEV). We choose life by letting go of selfish desires and living for God’s sake. Then we can say like the apostle Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

Jesus Christ also speaks of the broad and of the narrow way: no middle course or third way. This classification does not exclude certain differences of degree which morally exist between men. In the broad as well as the narrow way various stages may have been reached; but there are only two courses leading to two opposite ends. At this hour you are standing at the Junction of these two ways, but henceforth you shall be walking in one or the other of them. Your destinies will vary infinitely, but all outward diversities are as nothing in comparison of the moral difference which shall result from your personal choice. Each day you will take a step further in either of these two paths; the greater your progress, the riper shall you be for salvation or for condemnation. Whilst this choice is still possible and comparatively easy, choose life!

The call of Moses to choose life was not only about obeying rules. It was a call to the heart: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12; see also Deuteronomy 6:5; 11:13–14). Jesus issued this same call as the first and greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37–38).