I Choose Life!

Not many of us go through our daily lives choosing to live. We take this part of "life" for granted. We do not need to choose life as we are not threatened with the opposite - death. But is this truth or our perception?

North Americans are blessed with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps if we lived in a third world country, we think, then we would need to choose life each day. The people in Haiti and Chile are choosing life as they struggle to survive a tragedy of astronomic proportions. Those reached through Seed of Hope in Bhekulwandle, South Africa determine every minute to choose life instead of a hard death from AIDS.

Not many of us in the USA wake up each morning and ask ourselves, "Am I going to choose life today or choose death?" There are some though... My dear friend chooses life each day as she fights against the cancer in her body. But let me share another kind of life and death struggle that my friend is also winning, evidenced through her actions and attitudes.

Jesus said in Luke 11:44, speaking directly to the most "religious" leaders in His day, "Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it."

So many Christians today are choosing to live as the walking dead. They are concealed tombs and the people they come in contact with are unaware of it. Both their Christian family and those who are not saved are deceived into thinking their walk is true and righteous. They are alive on the outside and spiritually dead on the inside. Their time in the Word is minimal and not much insight is gained from it. Their prayer time consists of requests and there is no two-way conversation. Their Christian walk consists of making an appearance at church on Sunday morning, maybe helping out with vacation bible school or a teen fundraiser, but their relationship with their Abba Father is non-existent.

How do I know this? Because I lived it for the first 10 years of my Christian life. I chose to be spiritually dead because I did not want to give Father control of everything inside me: my pains, my hurts, my successes, my pride, my knowledge - the list could go on and on.

Sanctification does not happen automatically when you accept Christ into your life. Sanctification (living holy as Christ is holy or as this article describes - CHOOSING LIFE) happens when you let your heavenly Father take complete control of your life. It happens for me on a daily basis, when I choose to die out to myself and live for Him and in Him and let Him live and love through me.

Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a is a promised of restoration by God to Israel, and through His Scripture to us: "So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by LOVING the Lord your God, by OBEYING His voice, and by HOLDING FAST (my word for this is TRUSTING) to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days."

There is a process to living holy - you need to BELIEVE that Father loves you beyond what you will ever be able to comprehend. Yes, you are worthy of His love. You are important to Him. And He longs to wrap His arms around You and show You this every day! This belief is accomplished with faith. I recently heard faith described by Pastor Dan Bohi as "seeing the potential for someone or something even though it isn't reality." It took faith for me to see my potential through Father's eyes! Then TRUST His plan for you. You need to believe the love before you can trust (read previous posts in this blog). After you choose to live each day (believe and trust), then your obedience will be the most natural thing in the world! After all, when you are filled up with Father's love, you will love Him more than anything else - even your own selfish nature.

My dear friend chooses to live physically each day in her war against cancer. But she also chooses to live each day spiritually because she knows her Father loves her and has a plan for her. There is no deception in her life. We can see Father's love glowing through her; we can see her trust in her Father's plan; and we can see her obedience in walking the path He chose for her. She has reached many in her church, her community and beyond through her LIFE in Jesus Christ.

I want to be a witness like my friend. I want others to say, "Jody has changed. There is something different about her. See how joy-filled she is! Listen to what she shares from her time in the Word! I wish I could get that out of my Bible reading.... I need to ask her what is different. I want what she has!"

My prayer today is this: "Father, today I choose life so that I may live! I choose this by believing in Your love for me, by loving You, by being obedient to Your voice, and by trusting You, for this is my life."