3.137 Life and Good, and Death and Evil

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

I won't speak for you here, but I will tell you I am incredibly capable of overcomplicating life and the choices inside of it. I think Moses has a solution for me and if you find yourself overcomplicating life as well, he's got a solution for you. Solution for you too.

It might be a solution so simple that you and I might find ourselves overcomplicating it by the end of this episode. Let's take a look inside of our readings in Deuteronomy as we wrap up and say farewell here with, as I've said, maybe not this season, but as I've said before in Savory Salt, with a smile but a tear in my eye, we say goodbye to Moses here as he wraps up and ultimately leaves the children of Israel with this final kind of covenant. Again, how many times are they going to make this covenant?

This covenant with the children of Israel and the Lord. And we're going to see it very clearly inside of Deuteronomy chapter 30, which is where our verse for today comes into play. You see, inside of this covenant, it's very, very clear to the children of Israel that they will choose God and live or choose not God and die.

And that may seem like it's pretty harsh of a choice, but it is one that all of the children of Israel got to make then. And really, it's the same choice we get to make today. Let's take a look at our verse here.

Short and simple again, not trying to overcomplicate things. Let's keep this short and simple. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 15: "See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil." My friends, if we could just stay inside of that any time we feel like we lost in the choices of life, I believe the Spirit will guide us to the good and to life.

Now, that is way easier said than done. I have found many times in my life that if I just sat down and started listing all of the possible choices that could be made, I could just sit there making a list of the choices that need to be made. And yet many of those choices could be very much simplified if I just turned to the Lord and say, "Lord, what are the steps that I can take towards life and good rather than death and evil?" Now, before you shoot back at me and send me all sorts of comments about, "Allen, life's not that simple." There's so many different complicated ways.

There's so many. I get it. I do the same thing.

I do the same thing. But my friends, may we turn our hearts and our choices to the Lord. Perhaps we could keep this simple idea in our minds as we have life choices to make.

Perhaps we turn those life choices over and say, "Does this draw me closer to the Lord?" Or is there a possibility it draws me away? Now, could I oversimplify this all the way down to the content we consume, the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the people we associate with, the jobs that we choose? I really actually think we could.

I really think we could. Will this movie, will this song draw me closer to the Lord, or could it possibly close the door on the Spirit in my life? Could this school opportunity over here, or joining that team over there, or this new job opportunity over here, does it have the opportunity of drawing me closer to the Lord?

Or is there a chance it could draw me away? My friends, Moses kept it very simple for the children of Israel, and I think the Lord keeps it very simple for us. I think it's we.

I'll just say me since I won't speak for you here. I think it's me. I'm the one that overcomplicates the choices in my life.

I love this verse. I love the opportunity to try to simplify it and remember that I just need to choose the Lord. Doing so opens much more opportunity in my life towards life and good rather than the doors that close and ultimate darkness that comes through death and evil.

May we choose life and good, is my hope for all of us today. That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.