Choose Your Choices

 

“I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” – Deuteronomy 30:15

“Choose life.” – Deuteronomy 30:19

“Listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life.” – Deuteronomy 30:20

 

I was faced with a horrible choice yesterday.

I was leaving an intense day of work and headed home to pick up my son for soccer practice.

I found myself tired. And I found myself wanting a Dr. Pepper. Toot n’ Totom was up there on the right. As I was driving by, I was torn between my desire for a Dr. Pepper and my desire to not expend the energy it would take to stop, get out of my car, and go in and buy a Dr. Pepper.

As I was deliberating what to do, a brutal moment of self-awareness smacked me across the face. I was choosing between being lazy or being unhealthy.

I started laughing. (Partly because of what I’m about to tell you, but partly because I’m the freak that for some reason thinks up stuff like what I’m about to tell you!)

The first quote above popped into my head…you know, the one where God says that he puts before us the choice between life and death. Yet here, on my drive home, I had put before myself the choice between death and death.

I have so many friends that live here. They are choosing not between life and death (that God consistently puts before them), but between death and death (that they consistently put before themselves).

• Should I get even or be bitter?
• Should I lie or should I hide?
• Should I be violent verbally or physically?
• Should I give in or give up?
• Should I get drunk or high? (ever thought of staying engaged with reality?)
• Should I buy clothes I don’t need or electronics I don’t need? (I know lots of hungry people.)
• Should I divorce out of a loveless marriage or stay in a loveless marriage out of duty? (um…how about addressing the loveless thing…you know, by loving)
• Should I have meaningless sex or sex I convince myself is meaningful so I can have sex? (If sex is your end game, you’ll do one or the other, inside or outside of marriage)
• Should I be rebellious or religious? (Two self-defeating approaches to shame – one denies it, the other manages it)
• Should I vote Republican or Democrat? (I’m only kinda kidding here)

The decision that offers two bad choices never comes from God. We humans provide those for ourselves.

God gives us the choice the between death and life. There are exceptions, but most of the time, most people know the difference.

I mean, c’mon, take a look at the Ten Commandments. They don’t take spiritual super-powers to understand or agree with. Don’t steal. Don’t murder. Don’t sleep with someone else’s spouse. Don’t overwork yourself or those who are under your authority. Tell the truth. Honor your parents. Don’t revolve your life around worthless things. Love God. Represent God’s love well.

I think it was Francis Chan who pointed out to me that the Ten Commandments, contrary to popular belief, are not some super-high idealistic standards that are hard for human beings to measure up to. On the contrary, a person has to exert quite a bit of energy just to get underneath these standards. They are more a basic list of the minimum standards of being a decent human. Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos are making a killing on TV showcasing the people who break these commands, presenting them almost as freak circus acts that don’t have a clue. And based on what? These (almost) universally accepted commandments.

Some recent shows:

• “DNA: It’s your baby!” – 7th commandment
• “I know you murdered my son.” – 6th commandment
• “My mom made me lie.” – 9th commandment
• “Steve, Lock up my daughter.” – 5th commandment
• “Sex and Drugs at 13” – 2nd commandment
• “My Teen Would Kill for the Klan” – 3rd & 6th commandment

I know these are dramatic examples, that seem so crystal clear, but that is only because they are on TV and being exposed through the simple “life” vs. “death” choices that they are. If Steve or Dr. Phil got a hold of you and your self-defeating choices, they would seem drastically crystal clear, too.

I guess here is my point: Before we make a choice, we choose what it is we will choose between. 

God could just as truthfully have said, “Here, I set before the the choice between choosing between death and death, or choosing between death and life.”

So many of us have chosen death from the start by being fooled into thinking our choices are between two death-producing ones.

LET US ADVANCE from choosing between two different flavors of death, to the choice of Deuteronomy 30:15 – between life (-giving things) and death (-producing things).

 AND THEN, when we stand at that much healthier crossroads, follow the advice of Deuteronomy 30:19 – choose life!

For those who make it that far, those few who choose life consistently and faithfully, there becomes available to them another set of choices.

The choice between life and life.

If and when you get there, my friends…where you must choose between a life-giving thing and a more life-giving thing, struggling to discern which is which…well, wow. Praise God. You will then have entered into the most glorious adventure of your life. And to make that choice, you will then need the instruction of Deuteronomy 30:20 – listen to His voice.

“The man who accepts that there are never only bad choices will always find a good one. The man who always chooses the good one will always find himself with more than one good one from which to choose. And the man who learns to hear from his heart which good choice is best for him, and in faith obeys, finds himself living in the midst of miracles. He is the man with the most abundant life, for he has found life in God.” – Yours Truly

The Best Life