Come live with me...

The Bible is the living Word through which God never ceases to speak to us. His blessings equal life. His curses equal death. We choose whether to be blessed by God or cursed by God, choosing between life and death.

God’s heart for the Israelites was for them to be conscious in their choices, rather than be like most, who are only semi-aware of their choices, which are either killing them, or building them up. His desire was for them was that they do well to choose life…and was made abundantly clear.

Moses reminds them that their children’s lives were also at stake. The choices that parents make, do not negate the fact that the children will have their own choices, but in the parents choosing righteousness, it will definitely increase the likelihood that their children will do the same.

No matter how wrapped up we get into the theological debates about the sovereignty of God, the inevitability of sinners to sin, and the election of the saints, God never stops saying to all, that what He commands today, is not too difficult, nor beyond our reach.

God’s ways are life. Every choice of whether to do good or evil, always comes down to the choice between life and death.

I believe that what makes a human—who is created in the image of God, to choose death over life can only be that their nature is stained with sin.

Even Spirit-filled Christians can sometimes temporarily choose death. If they have been shaped for a long time by the evil choices they’ve made, the process of transformation to abiding in and with Christ could be slowed.

We are told to abide in Him, (not just a superficial acquaintance), but to accept without objection, and to act in accordance with, His decisions and recommendations. We must maintain a life-giving connection to him, as a branch is connected to the vine, and a vine to the branch. The branches are dependent on the vine, but the vine is not dependent on the branches. The branches derives its life and power from the vine.

Without the vine, the branches are useless, lifeless, powerless. Sap flows from the vine to the branches, supplying them with water, minerals, and nutrients that make us grow. If anyone does not abide in Him, he is thrown away as a dried branch; and they will be gathered and cast into the fire and burned.

When we chose His recommendations—they become life and health to all our flesh.

Trying to live the Christian life in carnality, and in our own strength, will get exhausting and discouraging. There comes a time when we must give up control, stop trying to be good enough and began living with, and in Him. (invitation to come live with …)

Finally, we are called, as part of the abiding process, to submit to the pruning knife of God, by which He cuts away all disloyalty and all that is unimportant, in order that we might remain in Christ completely.

So we all do well to “listen to His wisdom; tune our ears to His voice, for he has already spoken to us this:

“For I am life—and whoso finds me, finds his own life, and we will live together…forever.”

“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.

Deuteronomy 30:19