Choose life!

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections from His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verse is Deuteronomy 15:15-18, where the Moses says,   

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[a] that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.”'

If one could simplify the message of the Bible, it could be summarized this way. God created and redeemed you because He wants you to have life, and have it abundantly, eternally in Him. In the garden of Eden, God wanted Adam and Eve to experience the fullness of eternal life in and through Him. In the ministry of Moses in our text today, he reminds the people that God is ultimately calling them to the fullness of life in Him. And in the person and work of Jesus, God puts that full life on display so that we might indeed have life.

Unfortunately, life is under attack in our culture today. Instead of cherishing life, many try to exploit it for their own purposes. Abortion, infanticide, human trafficking, and assisted suicide are things that were unheard of before, but now are being applauded in our culture. Life is a precious thing. Your life is a precious thing. When God is the author, the creator, and the redeemer of your life, then your life has purpose, it has value, it has direction. That’s what Moses is offering the people that day.

“Choose Life,” he says. Let me remind you that the people to whom Moses was speaking, they had already seen God’s miraculous rescue of them from the slavery of Egypt. They had seen the waters of the Red Sea parted so that they might escape, so that their enemies might be defeated, so that they might be free to live in God’s presence and protection. Choose life is not so much an offer, it is an invitation to accept the life that has been earned and delivered to you as a gift. We see that more clearly in God’s gift of life to us in Christ. It’s an invitation from the one who has already chosen you through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

So, today, I challenge to begin to look at your life through the fullness of the life of Jesus Christ who lived, died, and rose again for you. Look at life from His eternal perspective. Look at life from His merciful perspective. Look at life from His moral perspective. And, ultimately, look at your life from His gracious perspective.

I love the quote from Mother Teresa about life. She said,

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.[1]

SO, Choose Life? It would be better to say…. Since god has chosen you, since god has paid the price for your forgiveness, life and salvation, since god has made this life available to you….By the power of his spirit, trust in him, yes, and live that life for all its worth!

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, give me the eyes of faith and the courage of love to live life boldly in your name for others. Let me cherish life for all its worth so that others might see their life as precious in you too. AMEN.

See Also
Straight Talk about What Matters
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Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips

This morning I sip coffee from one of his mugs: "Masterpiece Cakeshop: Yeah . . . that cakeshop." What cakeshop? If you don't know, you're not informed, and you're watching the wrong news. Jack has been embroiled in legal battles since 2012, when the baker declined to use his talents to create a custom cake celebrating a so-called gay marriage. Phillips, mind you, served all people, no matter what. But he did not wish to use his time and talents to commemorate that which he believed was wrong. This is what the First Amendment is all about, freedom of speech, which means the freedom from compelled speech, along with the free exercise of religion.

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Prayer Partner Thursday provides a month-long prayer emphasis in one of the four Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty areas of emphasis: Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Educational Freedom, and Marriage as an Institution (family).

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The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

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The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

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Have you ever been so overwhelmed by something that you finally gave in? In a moment of exasperation, you concluded, “There’s nothing else that I can do; I can’t handle this.” I think we’ve all faced that to some degree. There are issues in life that so overwhelm us it seems as though life itself has become impossible to face. Jesus often shakes us up by pointing out “the impossible” in our lives, while at the same time offering God’s possibilities even then. Amazing! Unclean lepers are healed instantly. People blind from birth suddenly see clearly, both physically and spiritually. Who is this Savior who shows us the depth of our depravity just so that He can demonstrate even more clearly God’s gracious salvation? He’s the Savior who, when it comes to eternal life and salvation, reminds that “with man this is impossible, but not with God; with God all things are possible.”  

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Prayer Partner Thursday provides a month-long prayer emphasis in one of the four Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty areas of emphasis: Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Educational Freedom, and Marriage as an Institution (family).

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October Bulletin Blurbs
October Bulletin Blurbs

The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.

October Bulletin Insert
October Bulletin Insert

The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.

Dr. Gregory Seltz
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