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. – Deuteronomy 30:19
It was the time of the California Gold Rush, and both families and single individuals were on the trek westward with the intent to claim their portion. On Christmas Day in 1849, some twenty wagons crested Mount Whitney and began heading downhill. The vista ahead of them looked desolate, without tree or bush or flowing streams. The wagon train split up, one group heading north and the other south. The group to the north found their way out of that valley in short order, while the group to the south became engulfed in the nearly unbearable terrain. Not everyone survived, but when those who did finally were able to reach the next mountain range, they looked back and said, “Goodbye, Death Valley.” Their name for the place stuck.
While few are faced with such life-or-death decisions today, God does call you to make such a choice. It is not your physical life that is at stake, but your spiritual one. One commentator wrote, “We need to make our choices carefully, especially those that affect our moral and spiritual lives. God has determined the limits of acceptable behavior, but he gives us the freedom to accept or defy those limits. He gives us the privilege of accepting him freely or rejecting him. And while wisdom would dictate that we exercise our privilege—not our right—the choice is ours. What will it be for us: escape by grace into life or entanglement by self-will in spiritual death? “
Reverend Adrian Rogers says the decision you make determines your destiny. He reminds you that you have the freedom of choice, to choose or not to choose. The opportunity to make your choice won’t last forever. As Moses states in Deuteronomy 30:19, “Choose today.” Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:7-8). When you choose Christ, you choose life… eternal life! If you have not yet placed your trust and confidence in Jesus’ finished work on the Cross to save your soul, do it today. You may not have a tomorrow.
Today’s Verse: Deuteronomy 30:19
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,
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: 1 John 5:6-13
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
