To Obey is a Choice

God has placed in front of me positive and negative, and it is my decision as to which I choose.

“¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” – Deuteronomy 30:15 (ESV)

I have been given all of the available options and God has left it up to me, the sinner to make a choice as to which I will seek. I can choose “life and good” or “death and evil”, positive or negative, but the choice is mine and mine alone.

“¹⁶If 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.¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I 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.” – Deuteronomy 30:16-18 (ESV)

And there you have it, my choice yield that which I chose. When I choose to obey God, I am rewarded with blessings from God. When I choose not to obey, my life will surely be shortened and I will not have the opportunity for prosperity.

Over the past few years, I have chosen to live a word for the year and my word in 2019 was “Example”. The purpose of the word was to be the example of what right looks like in everything that I undertake. I have not done perfectly with being that example, however I will say that I do think about being the example each day and when I stray away from that I realize, repent, and turn back. I have a choice each day to be the example of Christ for those around me and when I choose to be that example I am choosing to obey God and do His will.

Being a child of God is not easy and I struggle with making the choice for “life and good”, especially when there are so many options for instant gratification in the world today. I must remember to choose God over the world and know that when I do, I will prosper beyond anything this world has to offer.

Are you aware that you have a choice each day between “life and good” and “death and evil”? What would it be like if you chose “life and good”? Will you choose to obey God in the interest of being the example of Him in the world that largely does not?