"Today I call heaven and earth to testify against you: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse: choose life, so that you may live, you and your seed, to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and bind him to him: for this depend his life and the prolongation of his days, and this is how you can dwell in the land that Jehovah has sworn to give your parents Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20)
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These words spoken by Moses on the eve of his death take this fact as a testament. Hence his solemnity. In addition, they were pronounced by a remarkable man, unique in the history of the world (Deuteronomy 34: 10-11). Moses lived so close to God that he spoke to him face to face.
God was so deeply attached to him that he bore no accusation against him, and he also severely condemned those who once criticized him (Numbers 12: 6-8).
After being instructed in the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), Moses spent forty years in the wilderness where God prepared him to take the destiny of the people of Israel. At the moment he pronounces the words quoted above, he is a man of 120 years, rich in the experience of a long life dedicated to communion with God. In the testament he leaves to posterity, Moses gives a brief description of the biblical doctrine, presented in the form of the following alternative: "I put before you life and death, blessing and curse." And out of love for his people, he pushes the audacity to say: "Choose life, so that you live ..."
There is no third way to avoid a clear and defined position. Scripture makes it clear that God abhors half-measures and mixture and does not tolerate "lukewarm," and he said, "I will vomit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16). The New Testament presents the problem of choice in equally extreme terms: "He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). After Moses, the apostle insists in turn: "We pray in the name of Christ: Be reconciled to God!" (2 Cor 5:20) In Hebrews the same theme this time is of an urgent nature: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3: 7-8).
WHY CHOOSE
The need to choose comes from the fact that we are sinners, because our first parents sinned (Romans 5:12). Sin has corrupted man in his thoughts, desires and will (Genesis 6: 5) and leads him to an inexorable end and death (Romans 6:23).
Faced with the evidence of this disaster and the inability of man to remedy his condition, God could not remain insensitive. He leaned towards the man to whom he offered a solution in the person and work of his Son Jesus Christ: "When we were still without strength, Christ, at the appointed time, died for the wicked ... God shows his love for us, that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us "(Romans 5: 6-8).
Far from wanting to attack man, God gives him freedom of choice. Have you ever been unemployed before the sacrifice of Christ? Does not it show you the fact that he is dead that you are a sinner? Can you imagine that he was wrong and died in vain? If, therefore, his death was necessary, it is urgent that he turn to him today, that is, to choose.
The lack of choice or the wrong choice to keep man under the judgment of God: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God is on him" ( John 3:36).
CHOOSE LIFE
Choosing life is also choosing God's program for our life, a program that can only satisfy the heart of man. This choice depends on:
- our life (in its totality, the life of all beings)
- the expansion of the current one (health, safety)
- our house in the country (the enjoyment of terrestrial goods and materials, protection, peace).
What else could we want? These promises of God take extraordinary relief these days, while human guarantees have lost their evidence.
Choose life ... this primordial choice involves three others:
Choose to love the Lord your God, choose to obey his voice, choose to attach yourself to him.
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CHOOSE TO LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD
This choice is that of the heart. It implies a personal knowledge of God, going little by little to intimacy; from that moment, our heart opens to divine love and begins to respond to it.
Our heart is tortuous by nature and unfathomable malice; but when God regenerates us, he invites us to love him.
Do we love the Lord with all our heart? If we can not answer affirmatively, it is because we love ourselves too much. Why does not he want our Christianity? Why are our neighbors and our colleagues not brought to the faith by our witness? This is because they see little evidence of our love for God.
This election is necessary because it will force us to abandon all other teachers and give priority to God in our lives (Matthew 6:24 and 22:37).
This choice is logical, and it is not exceptional. It is the normal response of man to the infinite love of God for him.
This choice is a generator of purity because any other option is opposed to God (James 4: 4, 1 John 2:15): the love of the world is enmity against God. Would we try to reconcile Christianity and worldliness? God does not tolerate commitment and on our side we must not tolerate it either.
The relationship between the Father and the Son is marked with love (Matthew 3:17). The Son of God, far from keeping this love only for him, passed it on to men. He offers it to everyone, to those who are alone or to those who are not loved, or to the adolescent who feels less loved than his brother. I would like to tell you that if this is the case sometimes among humans, the Lord loves you and wants you to love him.
At the same time, we are invited to reflect this divine character: "Beloved, if God loved us so much, we must also love one another" (1 John 4:11). What progress is needed in this area! Ah! if love could replace animosities! If we learn to shut up instead of criticizing! Do not say that we love God if we do not love our brothers: it would be lying.
Loving God implies a complete transformation in the relationships of the couple, of the family, as in professional relationships. This is the testimony that God and the world expect of us. Choose to love God and we will see the effects that surround us.
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CHOOSE OBEY GOD
This choice is that of the mind, of intelligence. Amidst the many voices that arise, let us recognize God's. Unlike other voices, the voice of God responds to the needs of the spirit because it is the voice of the Creator, the voice of the Father who speaks to his children. What is not our privilege? Do we take the time to listen to it, or do we allow ourselves to be distracted by more impressive voices, which impoverish us instead of enriching us and deceiving us since they do not contribute anything to us?
God spoke ... and because God is true, his Word is true; She is trustworthy:
the apostle Paul said: "This word is true" (2 Timothy 2:11).
The Thessalonians did not regard it as the word of men, but as it really is, as the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
This Word is permanent (1 Peter 1:23), living (Hebrews 4:12), indestructible (Matthew 24:35). This is the reason why the disciples refer to it. Had not he inspired his actions? On the Sea of Galilee, after having been working all night without removing anything from his net, Peter said to the Lord: "Upon your word I will cast the net" (Luke 5: 4-11).
It may be that, like the disciples that night, you have an exhausting task: listen to the voice of God and throw the net on the right side of the boat; you will not get tired anymore and you will gather what God has prepared for you.
The Word of God also inspired the prayer of the disciples: "Lord, it was you who said ..." (Acts 4: 23-31). Would you like God to intervene in this or that situation? Then pray, trusting in His Word.
Obeying the voice of God and believing in the Word of Christ is the fruit of persevering efforts. That is why Paul talks about reading: this implies continuity and the existence of a daily program; Maybe it will be half an hour less sleep, or a TV to close earlier in the night. In summary, there are provisions that must be taken.
And the Apostle James here adds a practical note: do not settle for a more or less abstract knowledge because it is the heart that must be filled. We must experience what we have read, we must live it. Somebody said: "What are you screaming so loud that I do not hear what you say?" Sometimes there is a divorce between what we claim to be and what we are. We have knowledge, we can quote verses, but the Bible is a living book whose teaching requires application. Obedience to the Word is not self-evident. We proceed in the first place to the abundance of the Word in us, then the disposition of our mind to believe, finally, the progressive practice. Obedience to the Word strengthens our spiritual life, is the guarantee of our certainties, the discernment of error and the protection against sin.
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CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON IT
This choice is that of our will. Today we no longer accept links or restrictions. But it is voluntarily that the Christian must unite with God and not by obligation. It is a mature decision, a conviction, the submission of his will to the Lord.
In the storm of the garden of Gethsemane, the commitment of Jesus with the Father is revealed to us, in an instant: "It is not what I want, but what you" (Matthew 26:39). The Lord himself submitted his own will to that of God the Father in an extraordinary attachment. Are we ready to do the same?
The Hebrew slave, who had served his master for six years, could leave. But if he voluntarily decided to remain at the service of his master, he would commit himself to life: "If the slave says: I love my master ... I do not want to leave, then his master will lead him to God." ... and the slave will always be at his service "(or" attached to his service ", Exodus 21: 2-6) We were slaves, now we are redeemed slaves We would be slaves to serve in a servile spirit until now that God would like to hear us say: "I love my master, I do not want to be free, I want to remain attached to your service" With this condition, we will be useful to God and bear fruit. They question our attachment to the Lord! May he help us to hold fast to him.
What a wonderful image of what our commitment to God is and what it means! What a stimulus to know that with God we will reach the goal! Is not it worth joining him? Never taking into account the possibility of a flashback: "He who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
"Choose life, so that you may live ..." Moses was not wrong; It already introduces us into the eternal state, whose present tense is only the springboard. Let us choose without hesitation, knowing that this choice implies love, obedience and an unwavering attachment to God. We will show ourselves worthy and firm after choosing because we are sure to reach the goal.
