Choices – we make them every day. Some are easy, some are difficult but not always for the same reasons. Choosing whether or not to trust mom or dad to help you free that loose baby tooth can be pretty scary. My uncle once told me to tie a string around it, tie the string to a door handle and then slam the door shut. Well I never did think that a measly twenty five cents from the tooth fairy was a sufficient reward for attempting such foolishness. And then there’s your decision to start some exercise or diet program. Deciding it is one thing - doing it is another when you’d rather just stay in bed, or when you get home from work prefer to put your feet up, watch the news or have a nap rather than head off to the gym or out for a walk or little run. Choosing between a slime green health food smoothie even if it has kale, spinach and broccoli and my favourite cookies or cake – well I can tell you that wouldn’t be difficult at all. Choices – some easy – some hard but they are a part of everyday life from the moment you choose to get out of bed to the time you decide to return. Some are big. Some are small but all in some way have an impact on the present and future.
In the reading this morning from Deuteronomy 30 Moses, directed by the Lord, asked the people, “What shall it be? Life or death?” I believe in the midst of reasonably good times most people given such a choice would surely choose life though there are situations where some might consider choosing otherwise. As we heard the words of Moses today we are reminded that choice is ours. Which do you choose, life or death?
It’s easy and pretty natural to respond to such a question by saying, “Well of course I’d choose life.” But what does that mean? Moses said, “Choose life…loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him.” Jesus in today’s Gospel uses some extreme hyperbole to drive home the all or nothing commitment of following Him and its cost. Moses warns, “But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.” That’s all quite black and white - for some people too much so. Looking at their own lives and track record they’d prefer something a little greyer or at least somewhere in between. Black and white is good for one’s neighbour but not for one’s self. I was once told in jest, “Pastor, do you know what the mark of a really good sermon is? I said, “No.” And he went on, “It’s when the listener knows exactly which guy you’re preaching about.”
It’s ironic that in today’s lesson we are being asked to choose life but happen to live in a society that enacts laws to make it perfectly fine to end the life of a child in the womb, or at some point later to end a life using licensed drugs under certain qualifying conditions and calling it legal, and yet should you choose to use a gun to end the life of someone who met the exact same criteria, it would be called murder. This year in Canada there has been at least 118 such legal deaths which doesn’t include any stats from Quebec where such a practice has been legal since late 2015. Apparently life is not nearly as precious in the eyes of some as so many of those “inspirational” quotes on Facebook would seem to suggest.
Daily no matter what the law may say we are called on to choose life. Daily we fail and daily we often suffer as a result. We choose not to listen to what the Lord commands. We’re pretty well professional at breaking His commandments whether it is to hate others in our hearts, to misuse the Lord’s name, or gossip about our neighbour’s character. Though we may never label them as such we readily choose other gods like popularity, political correctness, pleasure, power, or success. We worship such things devotedly – serving them daily with endless offerings of effort, energy, time, and money. And sadly in the end, in so many ways, we reap what we have sown – stress and its related ailments, discontent, fractured relationships and families, unhappiness, even misery.
Like a child who has been told time and time again to pick up their toys or make their bed but don’t, yet they still want a treat when you’re out shopping, or ask for more time to play or watch TV, we too choose not to listen to the Lord but the minute we’re in trouble, the minute we’re facing illness, struggling with grief, having problems at work or in a relationship we run to God almost demanding His immediate assistance, and maybe even reminding Him of the times we’ve given or volunteered, the times we’ve remembered to pray and even made it to worship unlike so many other people who call themselves Christian.
Do we fail and make wrong choices? Of course we do all the time and in so many ways far more significant than choosing a delicious looking dish at the buffet table, one that was so tempting that you took a generous helping but after one bite knew it was a gag generating mistake, but you choked it down anyway because your mother taught you to eat everything on your plate. But how then can we make the right choice for life? There is only one way. It’s by loving the Lord our God – obeying His voice and holding fast to Him – clinging to Him all the way to His cross and back – clinging to Him as if our lives depended on it because they do.
Now some might wonder how we could possibly choose to follow the Lord when the Bible says our natural inclination – our human nature is an enemy of God and that it’s only by the Holy Spirit that we can cry out to Him. Both are true but we also need to remember that Jesus first comes to us. As He said to His disciples, “It is not that you have chosen me. I have chosen you.” He invites us to follow Him observing what He has commanded us even as He promises to be with us every step of the way.
Moses’ words on the Lord’s behalf were addressed to the Lord’s people – people who already knew the Lord, who had prayed to Him repeatedly and worshipped Him though not always so faithfully - much like you and I. They were people who through the years knew what He had done for them– how He had delivered them and provided for them. It was not an ice-cold challenge without any previous relationship with the Lord. Neither is it for us today when we know the Lord – know His blood stained cross and the forgiveness He won for us there for all the times we’ve failed to make the good choice.
If you’re familiar with the Star Wars movies you may recall a scene where Yoda is advising young Luke Skywalker just before he’ll attempt to get his fighter out of the swamp. Luke, somewhat half-heartedly said, “I’ll try.” To which Yoda said, “No, try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” On that day long ago Moses quite bluntly laid out the choices for the people. It was then and is now simply a yes or no, a do or do not. His options didn’t include ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps a little later.’ No one was given the choice to say, “Let me think about it.” Neither was saying, “I’ll try,” an option. Jesus never made suggestions and neither did Moses in the text this morning.
Today we are invited again to choose life as we are invited to do so every day. Properly understood it is a decision in faith that is followed by action. It’s not a matter of saying, “I choose life,” and then doing nothing about what that means. That would be just like saying you’ll clean your room but only continue to make it dirtier. As a Christian we make faith choices all the time. You’re out for dinner whether at a friends or in a restaurant and you choose to say grace or not. You don’t have to get on your knees by the table or stand and raise your hands to heaven but you make a choice to do or not do. You choose to read a devotion and a related passage from Scripture or you skip it and pick up a novel or turn on the TV. You choose to tell a non-Christian friend that you’re praying for them or you refrain from doing so because you don’t want your friend to be upset with you.
Choosing life is not a choice that we make once and then are never faced with it again. One doesn’t give their life to Jesus and never make that commitment again. We don’t take our confirmation vows and then get a certificate saying “Now you’re in, and you’re done no matter what you do.” To choose life is to in this life choose it over and over again holding fast to Him who holds fast to us. He is our life now and yet to come.
Today you will be making many, many choices. You already have. You chose to get dressed for church and we’re glad you did. You will choose what to eat, what to do, where to go, or what to watch on TV. Dare to think, pray, and act on how your choices may reflect and honour the life you are offered in Jesus, and then choose life and hold fast to Him for all you’re worth – because to Jesus you are worth everything. Amen.