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Life
May 5, 2012

In the United States just a few weeks ago was the deadline to pay income taxes for 2011, and somebody said the only things certain in life are death and taxes. And while life may be filled with uncertainties, and have a definite result, we do have choices that define how we live our life, and the Bible gives us some guidance on this.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

We are encouraged to choose life, and the life we are encouraged to choose is a life of good. We do good by doing what God wants us to do and obeying him, and if we do this, God will bless us. The opposite of life is death, and death is characterized as evil and is marked by those who do not obey God. So God wants us to choose life, and to live a life in obedience to him.

1 John 5:10-21
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Even though we think of life in the physical sense, and when a person dies we have body to bury, the Bible speaks of life and death in spiritual terms. Eternal life is what we have through Jesus, and only those who have Jesus have this spiritual life. And because we have been given this spiritual life, we should take great comfort in knowing that we can ask God anything that is according to his will, God will listen to us. John points out in this passage that the type of sin that leads to spiritual death is more than just unrighteousness. The type of sin that leads to spiritual death is willful disobedience to God, and this can be done by not exercising proper restraint. Sometimes it is hard to exercise restraint due to the human condition, and sometimes when people fail to exercise restraint due to the human condition, they feel very guilty. John is writing more about when people choose to do something that is wrong, and the human condition has nothing to do with it. John is not writing about a momentary weakness as we all have those. John is writing about those who arein control of themselves and still decide to disobey God. This is more serious in God's mind. And what can make this hard for some is there are those who believe this gives them the right to be God's morality police. God doesn't need the help of these people. These people feel it is their responsibility to show a sinner their sins. These people would do much better to pray for those who sin, as John shows in this passage how this might save the sinner's life. The reason God doesn't want us to judge others is because we really don't know the human condition of the other person. Maybe the other person defiantly disobeyed God, but maybe there is something about the mental o and physical state of mind of the other person that would explain the choices that were made. Maybe the person was tired or had low blood sugar or was very sick, or was in great pain. It takes very little to get a different reaction out of the same person, and this is why torture is sometimes used against prisoners of war. Only God truly knows the mind of each person, and their heart.

Psalm 44:17-21
All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Luke 16:14-15
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

These passages show that God knows our hearts, and that sometimes when a person is self-righteous, as were the Pharisees from the passage in Luke, that they were wrong about what was important to God. What is most important to us is not the sins of other people but our heart and how we choose to obey God. We can choose death or we can choose life, and God want us to choose life.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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