The Way

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants   Deuteronomy 30:19

Choose Life – What would you choose – life and the blessing, or death and the curse?  No one in his right mind would choose death and the curse.  But then, we aren’t in our right minds, are we?  Over and over we choose just the opposite of God’s Way – and we inherit death and the curse.  Over and over we prove that sin is insanity, that only the mentally ill and morally deranged would deliberately choose such consequences.  We close the book of Deuteronomy, claiming that it isn’t for us, and think we can find our own way to God.

Deuteronomy doesn’t get much attention these days.  At least it doesn’t get much attention in the “Christian” world.  But if you were an orthodox Jew, this would be the first book you taught to your children from the time they could speak.  This would be the book they memorized.  This would be the foundation of their lives.  Why?  Because it is a book of the Way.  It is God’s book of blessing – and of cursing.  If you want to choose life, then you absolutely have to know what this book says.  It’s no good to pretend it doesn’t matter, to think that God’s moral government has somehow changed over the centuries.  It’s no good to push it aside as if it only applied to a nomadic tribe in the Middle East.  This is the book about hayah, about life.  Just as Moses challenged the people of Israel to make a choice, so his words challenge us.  Today, what will you choose?

u va harta ba’hayim  Therefore, choose life!

Amazingly, even in our mentally ill, morally deranged condition, we can still choose!  God has not abandoned us entirely.  We can respond to His call.  That, in itself, is a miracle of grace.  Imagine where we would be if God “gave us up” to our moral indifference.  Choice would be impossible.  We would be lost for sure.  (Have you thanked Him today that you can actually choose to serve Him?)

Now that you have the potential to choose, what must be done?  Well, you can start with Deuteronomy, just like any Jewish child would.  You can learn how God thinks about life – its personal interactions, business, social structure, political structure, legal issues and even kitchen issues.  Don’t tell yourself that Jesus came to throw away all those old rules!  You missed the point.  The law is your guidebook to living after Jesus has dealt with your guilt.  Do you want to know what it means to draw closer to Him?  Do you want to see what it looks like when the Spirit manages your actions and reactions?  Start in First Grade.  Go read the book!