Choosing Life Over Death

Deut 30:15-20
Matthew 5: 21-37

In my hands today are two options. In my left hand I hold life and prosperity. In my right hand I hold death and destruction. If I choose one of you from the congregation to come up and pick a hand, knowing already because I have told you, what is in each hand - which would you choose? You'd choose the left hand, correct, the one with life and prosperity in it? I mean, who would deliberately choose death and destruction when they KNOW the other hand holds life and prosperity?!

And yet, the writer of Deuteronomy's last words to us are, "Now choose life so that you and your children may live..." as if it is not certain that we will choose life to begin with. Why might that be?

How often did you lie this week, big whoppers and little white lies? How many times did you curse in anger, become jealous and covetous of what others have, become so angry that you couldn't think rationally? How many times did you say or think something truly awful about another person or even yourself? How many times did you speed and barely brake at a stop sign? How many times did you get on facebook or reddit instead of working? How many times did you gossip or complain about another person?

How many times did you pray this week? How many times did you crack open your bible and read it? How many times did you talk to your family, your friends, and your co-workers about your faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for your life? How many times did you stop to think about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit throughout your day? How many times did you treat someone with kindness and respect despite not really liking them? How many people did you help who cannot help you in return?

Every day we have a choice. We choose life or we choose death. Life is kindness, courtesy, gentleness, meekness, and respect. Death is anger, jealousy, hatred, bitterness, and envy. Life is about being a person that does not need to say a word to proclaim themselves a Christian because our actions tell everyone who we are. Death is the slow wasting away of our faithful connection to God through our deliberate ignorance of God and Jesus' command to love.

The writer of Deuteronomy is aware of how tempted we are to stray from God's goodness and straight into the path of destruction which will only lead to death.

Sometimes we do not realize we are choosing death instead of life. One more hour at work instead of going home to our family. One more drink after a long, hard day. One more small lie to keep a loved one from being hurt. One more cookie because it's been a stressful morning. One more hour on the internet instead of going to sleep. One more phone call to talk about all the juicy gossip we heard that day. One more nasty thought said out loud. One more flirting glance at the good looking person walking by despite being married.

When does one more become too many? There is no way to tell. If there was, we all could avoid sin! We all could avoid temptations and addictions if we knew what would be the tipping point. When does a couple drinks after work become alcoholism? When does a phone call to chat become a nightly nasty gossip session about all the people we dislike? When does an hour extra at work turn us into workaholics? When does that one more cookie become the way we cope with stress all the time? When does that flirting glance turn into an affair?


We do not know or no one would sin. The write of Deuteronomy is trying to warn us that we must be careful and deliberate in our actions. We must embrace God. We must embrace Jesus' way of behaving if we are to choose life. The writer tells us, "But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient...I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed."

Those are harsh words; they are scary words! Sometimes, the problem with us Christians is that we have become so used to hearing that we are forgiven for our sins that we think sinfulness has no consequence at all. That is not true! Sin destroys who we are inside, it destroys the connection we have to God and without that connection we are left without the anchor we need to keep us steady in times of pain and crisis. If we are not anchored in Christ then we are bound to screw up even more by making bad decisions!


The consequence of sin, and thinking our sins are easily forgiven and therefore unimportant, is that we no longer know the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. As I have mentioned before, we can call ourselves Christians all we want, but when our actions do not back up our words, then our words are meaningless. We can say we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but if we do not act like Jesus has saved us - then do we truly believe what we say?

Loving Jesus and being loved by Jesus, understanding the depth of his sacrifice for us - it changes who we are deep inside. We are different and therefore we act differently. We are not of the world anymore. We are part of God. We are God's children, God's precious heirs to the kingdom of heaven. If we want to receive our inheritance, we cannot sin willfully and think that we are choosing life. Choosing life means embracing the Spirit's gifts of love and gentleness, grace and mercy, humbleness and faithfulness.

If our lives do not portray these gifts, then we have somehow gone down the path of "one more" and can no longer see how destructive our choices have become. Who you are is God's child. That identity will always belong to you - if you choose life in Jesus Christ.

Amen.