Deuteronomy 30:15-20
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 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, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Ultimately, we are all faced with a choice: purity or lust, spirit or flesh, God or self, life or death? That seems pretty stark and narrow-minded, but Moses is arguing that this is reality. In our addiction what we want is to somehow have both God and sin. We'd like to be able to look at pornography and also be a good Christian. But that's not really possible. When we choose sin, we choose to reject God, and when we reject God, He turns against us (in hopes of getting us to turn back to Him and repent).
So often we confuse "life" with material things like money and family, but note what Moses defines true "life" to be (verse 20): "loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him". We are designed to be in relationship to God, so life begins when we begin relating to Him. What will you choose today?
God, I confess that part of me doesn’t want to choose; I want both You and my sin. But that is not realistic, so help me to choose You, to love You and not love my sin.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 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, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Ultimately, we are all faced with a choice: purity or lust, spirit or flesh, God or self, life or death? That seems pretty stark and narrow-minded, but Moses is arguing that this is reality. In our addiction what we want is to somehow have both God and sin. We'd like to be able to look at pornography and also be a good Christian. But that's not really possible. When we choose sin, we choose to reject God, and when we reject God, He turns against us (in hopes of getting us to turn back to Him and repent).
So often we confuse "life" with material things like money and family, but note what Moses defines true "life" to be (verse 20): "loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him". We are designed to be in relationship to God, so life begins when we begin relating to Him. What will you choose today?
God, I confess that part of me doesn’t want to choose; I want both You and my sin. But that is not realistic, so help me to choose You, to love You and not love my sin.