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Deuteronomy 30:19-20 19  This day I call heaven and 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 20  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.

In Deuteronomy 30 we hear Moses’s challenge to the nation of Israel that they were to choose life. What does that look like? In the context of this Scripture, it involves loving God wholeheartedly and obeying His commands. Notice the middle of verse 20: “For the Lord is your life.” What does it mean for the Lord to be OUR LIFE? It means He stands at the center of every facet of our lives. If God is at the center of everything, what are the implications for our lives and what does choosing life on a daily basis look like? How does knowing God and living in full surrender to Him inform our ideas about life?

I would say if God is truly the centerpiece of our lives we will:

1. Live to esteem life.

Life is important to God. Esteeming life is to hold life in high regard like God does. The Bible tells us clearly that God is love in I John 4. I doubt many of us here this morning would argue that. I could argue using various Scriptures that God is life. Life springs from God alone. He is the Author of life. He is the Giver of life. He is the Sustainer of life. For “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 He is the Giver of new life, abundant life, and eternal life in Jesus Christ. He calls Himself the Resurrection and the Life in John 11:25-26. Jesus said in John 8:12 that whoever follows Him will have the light of life.

We need to esteem life by helping every person find life in Christ and helping them learn to live their best possible life inside of a relationship with Jesus. When we tell someone about Jesus, we are valuing life. We are valuing them as people for whom Christ has died. When we help educate people about the kind of life that God desires us to experience we are valuing life. When we warn people of the dangers of sin and the reality of Hell, we are valuing their eternal soul, their eternal life.

Esteeming life involves choosing life at every stage of life for ourselves. Life, at every stage, is a gift from God. You see, For the believer, every season of life is blessed by God. We have to resist allowing changes in life to take life from us. Life doesn’t stop with any stage of life until God calls us home. So, let’s not quit living before God says our lives are truly over.

2. If we are going to choose life, we also need to make a commitment that we will live to protect life.

If we embrace and value life as God does, we will be compelled to protect the lives of people who need some extra help. If we esteem life Proverbs 24:11 says, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” That is pretty specific and vivid language. We have a responsibility as believers to protect life, especially the lives of the unborn.

Life comes from God, and the Bible tells us we are not to take life. It is a command of Scripture. It’s one of the “Big Ten” in Exodus 20. Every child, conceived in its mother’s womb, has all of the DNA, all of the personality, all of the capacities as any other human on the outside of the womb. To decide to end the development of all that can be, is to take the place of God. It must not be a position we take as believers.

Protecting life isn’t just about abortion either. It’s about ministering to people who are vulnerable, like victims of Domestic Violence. It is about educating our young people about the dangers that lurk online, about teaching them to respect themselves and their bodies. It’s about helping people who are looking for love in all of the wrong places see that they are being led into a trap that will take life from them. One of the ways we protect life is by helping the emerging generation see that they don’t have to repeat the mistakes that generations before them have made. The Gospel, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, the ministry of prayer- all of these have the capacity to protect the lives of people who will commit themselves to the Lord. If we can prevent that which takes life from people, we can spare so much heartache and eventually turn our culture around.

We live to give life.

When we become mentors to others, we give life. When we speak encouraging words to people, we give life. When we share our resources with people, we give life. When we teach people skills that enable them to live well, we give life. When we create opportunities for people, we give life. When we become friends with people, we give life. When we foster children and adopt children, we give life. When we serve others by giving them food, clothing or shelter, we give life.

As I was looking at Scriptures for this message, God spoke to me and told me that Giving life is an act of discipleship. Here is it from Matthew 10:42: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” 

It is from our relationship with Jesus, it is because we are disciples, that we reach out with life when people need to have their lives refreshed. Look at the same verse from the Message translation: Matthew 10:42 (MSG) Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

Sometimes we think we can’t give life because it will cost us too much. It will take too much of our time. No. We are actually the ones who received the greatest blessing when we give lives to others. Our lives won’t be emptied of anything we need. We won’t lose out on a thing, and we will live better, more full, more satisfied, more fruitful. Remember, it was as Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many, that eternal life was purchased for us all, and Jesus didn’t lose His life. He simply laid it down for a few and was resurrected from the dead. He overcame everything awful about life by laying His life down for us. Do you think there is a message in that for us?

You don’t have to have walked in someone else’s shoes in order to care.

Christianity is pretty practical. Matthew says, “It’s a cup of cold water.” Why do we make it so hard to do such an easy thing like care for others?

We can’t be all things to all people, but we have a pretty large network and a lot of love. My prayer is that we can do something to help every person who comes to us with a need. As believers, we have more than a cup of cold water to give. We have Jesus. And the Bible tells us when we give in His name, He is present. He will work. He will bless. He will draw people to Him. He will use what we do to bring life to those who need it. When we give life we do the work of Jesus and God is pleased.

How then shall we live? We live to esteem life, to protect life and to give life every day to every person we meet.

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