Choosing Life
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed. — Deuteronomy 30:19
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. — Galatians 6:8
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: God allows us to choose and calls us to decide between life and death, blessing and curse. Choosing life means abiding in Jesus and aligning our will with His Word, rather than seeking the world’s approval. Decisions born of pride, fear, or self-reliance bring painful consequences; Abraham and Sarah, in attempting to hasten the promise through Hagar, show the danger of acting according to our own strategies instead of waiting for God’s plan. By contrast, when we make decisions under the Spirit’s guidance, we trust in His promises and remember that in Christ we are new creations. Doing God’s will means trusting, waiting, and persevering in Him so that we may reap life, peace, and spiritual fruit.
The Lord has given us the option to choose in everything we do. The Christian life allows us to weigh the options presented to us in life and make decisions regarding them.
Every day we make dozens of decisions, and often we are unaware that, depending on the motivations we had for making a decision, life can take a 360-degree turn, whether for better or for worse. The key lies in the motive we apply when making a particular decision. The decision depends on our will, for we already know that God has given us free will, which allows us to do things the world’s way or God’s way. You choose. The world will approve of us according to our actions, abilities, and appearances; however, God has accepted us just as we are and desires with all His heart that we make decisions based on what He says, not on what the world says.
The Lord speaks to us: “…I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessing and curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). To choose is the same as to decide. The Lord wants us to choose life. Have you noticed, my dear brothers and sisters, the association in Scripture between the word life and the name of Jesus? Let us see: I am the bread of life (John 6:48); I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6); God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son; He is the Author of life (Acts 3:15), and there are many more verses like these.
God wants your decisions to enable you to remain in Jesus, who is Life. We have needs, we face problems, doubts and questions arise for which we have no human answers, and even so, we must make decisions. A decision based on fleshly behavior, apart from God, will inevitably lead us to frustration and, at times, to self-destruction. A bad decision based on our own strategies rather than on trust in God’s promises can even influence the destiny of generations and even of a nation.
God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son and, through him, numerous descendants—the inheritance of a great nation. Their advanced age and God’s “delay” instilled fear and doubt in both of them as to whether God would fulfill this promise, and they decided to try to “lend Him a hand” and help Him. Sarah proposed that her husband take her servant Hagar, the Egyptian slave, who was young and could undoubtedly conceive, and possess her. Abraham’s motivation was good: to help God. Their decision ruined the waiting that both of them should have practiced for God’s plan. God’s plan was much better. They only needed to wait. And so Ishmael, Hagar’s firstborn son, was born. Sarah, by then very old, conceived and gave birth to Isaac, as God had promised. Isaac was to be the true son of God’s promise. Ishmael is the seed of the Arab people. Isaac, of the Hebrew people. The consequences of this decision, made several millennia ago, reach down to our own day: two nations at war, apparently irreconcilable to this day.
Decisions based on motivations such as pride, vanity, self-sufficiency, and fear bring bad consequences. The Word says: “For the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (Galatians 8:6).
When we make decisions motivated by the Spirit, we can trust that God will supply all our needs, tear down any anxiety that may arise (anxiety is produced by our insecurity about the future when we do not trust God), eliminate depression (depression occurs when we focus on negative experiences from the past and lose hope), and remind us once again that we are new creatures, born again in the Spirit. Going about depressed, focusing on our sinful past and its consequences, is contrary to our new nature in Christ. Christ erased our past, nailed our sins to the Cross, and made us a new creation. We can make the decision to walk in the Spirit as we should and reap eternal life.
Making decisions God’s way means doing His will, trusting in Him, and waiting on Him. An old worldly saying goes: “He who waits falls into despair.” The Lord of Lords declares: Wait on Me and you will be blessed; persevere in Me and you will live in peace; remain in Me and you will be joyful in every decision you make, and you will multiply the fruit produced by My Spirit.
God bless you!