“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God 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.” – Deuteronomy 30:15-16
In our present age of “you do you, I’ll do me” radical autonomy, many bristle, chafe, or rage at the idea that God would have standards, expectations, rules, and commandments for us. “How dare He?”, we rage! Bypassing the obvious answer that, “He’s the Creator of the Universe”, a very helpful question is, “Why does He?”
What too few realize is that God’s commandments are given not as a burden, but as a blessing. They are not an arbitrary set of rules designed to suck the fun out of life. God truly and profoundly desires what’s best for us, not merely what feels good in the near-term. Those two things are very, very different!
God desires life, good, blessing, and flourishing for each person who bears His image (and we all do). He lays out a path of wisdom, life, and fruitfulness. He knows that the other path, the one that looks so attractive when we’re first on it, leads to foolishness, death, and barrenness.
The question that each person must answer for him or herself, is will I trust God’s way? Will you??? Will you even give it a try? Will you ask God’s help in moving from the path of death and evil to the path of life and good in Jesus Christ? Will you continue to insist on your way, riding that path all the way to its terrible inevitable result, or will you embrace the God of the Universe Who longs to bless you?