Consequences

Since the beginning of creation, God has desired to love us and for us to love Him. He has wanted to bless His children and for them to understand His love for them. But from the beginning, His children have been rebellious. They have not loved Him as He desires and we have continually turned against Him. In turn we have continually turned against His blessings. With every action that we make, there is a consequence that comes with it. The awesome thing is that we have every consequence written before us. We can choose life or we can choose death, either way it is our choice.

Deuteronomy 27 is the beginning of the final chapters of this book. This is where Moses lays out, in plain view, the consequences of obedience and disobedience. There are certain conditions that we must meet in order to get the full blessings from God. If we choose to turn our backs on Him there are consequences for our choice. "If you fully obey the LORD our God by keeping all of the commands I am giving you... You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: ...But if you refuse to listen to the LORD your God and do not obey all the commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: ...Let none of those who hear the warnings of this curse consider themselves immune, thinking, 'I am safe, even though I am walking in my own stubborn way,' This would lead to utter ruin!" In the greatness of God, He allows us to choose. In everything that I teach my boys, consequences for what they choose, is one of the most important. No one makes me act in a sinful way, it is my choice and it is yours.

I could very easily play the victim, because of my past. I could still be blaming my ex husband for everything that went wrong. Do you know how easily it would be to say that it was all his fault. He was the one who was supposed to protect me, and yet he sent me out in order to fulfill his own sinful desires. Trust me, I could very easily play the victim. But where is there life in the slavery of victimization. No, we each choose what we do and how we act. My ex husband is no more responsible for my actions than I am for yours. God in His mighty power has given us the freedom to choose. In that freedom there was a time when I chose death, even to the point of a knives at my wrist, but now I choose life. I choose life because I choose Him. When we choose Him, in the consequences of our choice to obey Him, He brings life. It is all part of consequences.

Deut 30, "Suppose all these things happen to you- the blessings and the curses I have listed- and you meditate on them... If at that time you return to the LORD your God, and you and your children begin wholeheartedly to obey all the commands I have given you today, then the LORD your God will go and find you and bring you back again... The LORD your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul, and so you may live! ...The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey His voice and keep the commands and laws written in the Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform... The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death... Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the LORD your God and obey Him and commit yourself to Him, for His is your life."

There was a time when I chose death, I now choose life. I choose to love my LORD and in loving Him, I obey Him and in this, I choose life. I choose life! What are your choices? What are the consequences that you are choosing? Choose this day to serve the LORD. Choose life so that you may live! Jesus did not come and die on the cross to make you holy. He did not come to make bad paople good. He came to make dead people live!