Choose Right - Choose Life

We read in Deuteronomy 30:19, I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life. (GNB)

These were the words of Moses to the people of Israel as he admonished them to choose life.

The freedom of choice

Many people have this question in their minds as to why God who created the beautiful Garden of Eden, and also created Adam and Eve to enjoy it, placed in it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their premise is that if that tree was not planted in that Garden, there would have been no trouble at all for mankind. The reasoning is that if God did not place the tree in the Garden, Adam and Eve would never have eaten of it, and we would not have to suffer the way we do today.

If God is good, Almighty and a loving God the thought is why did he create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then forbade Adam and Eve to not eat of its fruit. Our God is good, He is just and wise, and we can be sure that our God will never make a mistake. Every time we are confused about some things that happen in our lives, let us remind ourselves that God never makes mistakes. God is without fault, and everything He does is only for our good.

The reason God kept the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden was because He gave man the option to obey Him or disobey Him. God gave the freedom of choice to mankind.

This is what we read in Deuteronomy 30:19, that God gave the people a choice to choose life or death or to choose the blessing of God or the curses of God, and he exhorted them to choose life.

Even today we have the freedom to make our own choices, and God never forces anyone to obey Him. If we were to give serious thought to it we will realize that the reason for many of the problems in our lives is because of the wrong choices that we have made.

There was a lady whose young daughter committed suicide. That young girl was a godly girl who used to attend church regularly, but in a season of depression she was so overwhelmed that she ended her life. The mother of the young girl was heart-broken, and she asked me, ‘Pastor, my daughter was such a good girl, so why didn’t God stop her when she planned to take this extreme step?’ At that moment the Lord reminded me that even when Eve made the choice to eat the forbidden fruit the Lord did not stop her from doing so. We do not have authority to take our lives because God created us for a purpose, and when we choose to rebel and disobey, God will never stop us from doing so.

When we willfully make choices that are not in line with God’s will, be sure that God will never stop us, because God has given us the freedom to choose to obey Him or disobey Him. All the counsels of God is clearly given to us through His word, and it is up to us to live according to it. Moreover, Jesus also lived a perfect life, and has set us the example to follow so we have no excuse to make wrong choices, and then blame God for all the things that go wrong because of the same. God is a good God, and it is never His intention or His nature to bring trouble, and hardships upon us.

As human beings we all know what is good and what is bad, but sadly often we choose bad and make wrong choices because of the pressures we face. If we pray, and ask God sincerely, He will surely help us to make the right choices in life. For example, we are all in church today because we made a decision to be here, and those who did not make such a decision did not make it.

We will study in detail to see how we can make the right choices in our lives every single day.

The choice a Governor made

In Matthew 27:2, we read, They put him in chains, led him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor (GNB)

Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Rome, and Jesus was brought before him for trial. There was a crowd that had gathered there along with the Jewish religious leaders who falsely accused Jesus. Pilate knew after the interrogation that Jesus had done nothing wrong, and that He was faultless. Also, Pilate knew that Jesus did not deserve death on a cross as He had done nothing worthy of such a death sentence.