Each day, God sets before us a blessing and a curse. Blessing flows from loving God with all your heart and soul, and cursing from despising Him and His commandments. This might seem counter to the statements that God sends rain on the just and the unjust, but in the context, this is about the natural consequences of our choices.
God's commandments are good, pointing out how to live a life that is free of many of the worries of those who ignore His commands. But living by His commandments is not a magical formula for a perfect life! First, because if it were, humans would simply use their behavior to try to manipulate God into doing what we want. God will not be mocked or manipulated. He knows our heart and what He is after, for our sakes, is not an automaton which obeys by rote, but a heart that recognizes His love and obeys out of love in return. Secondly, this view sets us up as the master and God as the servant, as if God is obligated to us. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Still, we live in a fallen world and our fallen choices result in consequences. Allowing sin to creep into our heart impacts our relationships, our health, our finances, and our mental well-being. We often don't see the connection between the pet sin we've been keeping in the closet and the destruction that seems to swirl around us until it is too late.
The beauty of the gospel is that we don't have to rely on our own ability to obey God's commandments -- instead, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and gives us the ability to see sin for what it is and the strength to resist its compelling lure!
The Israelites were given a choice between life and death, blessings and curses. Their history reveals they chose unwisely. They allowed the pagan culture to infiltrate their own beliefs and, years later, practiced many of the same evils for which God was overthrowing those people.
What about us? What will we choose today?
God's commandments are good, pointing out how to live a life that is free of many of the worries of those who ignore His commands. But living by His commandments is not a magical formula for a perfect life! First, because if it were, humans would simply use their behavior to try to manipulate God into doing what we want. God will not be mocked or manipulated. He knows our heart and what He is after, for our sakes, is not an automaton which obeys by rote, but a heart that recognizes His love and obeys out of love in return. Secondly, this view sets us up as the master and God as the servant, as if God is obligated to us. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Still, we live in a fallen world and our fallen choices result in consequences. Allowing sin to creep into our heart impacts our relationships, our health, our finances, and our mental well-being. We often don't see the connection between the pet sin we've been keeping in the closet and the destruction that seems to swirl around us until it is too late.
The beauty of the gospel is that we don't have to rely on our own ability to obey God's commandments -- instead, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and gives us the ability to see sin for what it is and the strength to resist its compelling lure!
The Israelites were given a choice between life and death, blessings and curses. Their history reveals they chose unwisely. They allowed the pagan culture to infiltrate their own beliefs and, years later, practiced many of the same evils for which God was overthrowing those people.
What about us? What will we choose today?
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