[...]Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, [...] (Deuteronomy 30.19)As I was reading through this passage, this statement is what really jumped out at me. In this passage, God is telling the people of Israel that they have the gift of agency. However, the choice is made pretty clear - life or death, prosperity or adversity. The life and prosperity goes hand-in-hand with following all that God had set before them; death and adversity came if they had hardness of heart or chose to turn from God.
When the statement above came through, it caused me to consider my own decisions in life.
My wife and I do not currently have children (and we'd like to wait about three years before doing so) and I realize this was addressed to an entire community, not just one individual. In spite of that, this statement is still helpful for us.
In the past I can recognize times when I've chosen life and times I've chosen death. It's remarkable looking back at how much better life was during those life-choosing times compared to the death-choosing times. One particular instance the jumps out at me for the death-choosing (because it's always easier to recall the trials in our lives, right?) would be a particular breakup right after college. In that instance, I had chosen a life of death - partying, girls and the like - and my life got turned right upside down. I was immersed in grief and guilt, feelings of unworthiness (these had been mounting for the years I was in school) and shame.
It was a journey of reevaluating my life, rediscovering God and prioritizing the things that really mattered. Through my choices that lead to death, God gave me the opportunity to discover life. I do not believe that God was punishing me for my irresponsible lifestyle - I think God wanted me back and was filled with grief that I had strayed, just as God is filled with grief when any of us strays and wants all of creation back. It was God's gift of agency that really brought me back.
In my particular faith movement (Community of Christ) I was raised to know that God gives us agency. One of the more recent publications from the church to help us identify ourselves (we've suffered a bit of an identity crisis over the last couple of decades) has included in it the "Enduring Principles" (similar to core values in a business setting). One of the enduring principles is that of responsible choices, recognizing that human choices can contribute good or evil to the world and that we are called to make choices that contribute to the purposes of God.
So what does this have to do with the passage? Choosing life so that my descendants may live permeates all aspects of life; relationship choices, environmental choices, economic choices. And I make these choices to (hopefully) contribute to the purposes of God.
When have I chosen life in the past? Death?
How can I continue to choose life and contribute to the purposes of God?
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