God Wants You to Choose Life -Advent 6 (2019)

How wonderful that the Messiah was born long ago! That He lived back then and not now…in a culture far more respectful of life in general–and life in the Lord specifically–than we know today.

Ages prior to the pro-life community’s appealing to God’s Word to choose life, the Lord held out His hands to His people, and offered life to any who would seek it, see it, value it, and choose it. They didn’t have to climb mountains or swim oceans to find it. It was right in front of their eyes.

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)

Think about it:

Do you welcome the life the Lord gives, the true life worth living found by listening to God and obeying Him?
Think about Mary (a virgin) and her cousin Elizabeth (old and barren) now pregnant with John the Baptist. How did they choose life? Was persevering in pregnancy the only way they experienced choosing life?
What types of things stand in the way of our finding that life? How does rejection of true life, maybe following some of those things instead, ultimately lead to our destruction?
How does finding life begin with a choice, followed by setting our compass on God, and leading to life?

If God had a Christmas List, what His Word says He wants (not just for Christmas) is
… for us to choose life.

Dear Lord, please help me to see the life in You which You have set before me. Help me to reject all other pretenders and poor substitutes. Please give me eyes to see my bad choices and how they led to bad outcomes so that I might learn and not repeat them. And forgive me, Lord. I am prone to wander and don’t intend to break Your heart. I’m sorry, Lord, for any ways I’ve grieved You. Show me the meaning of life in You and how to live it. In Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:

Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.