Normally in this space, I would provide some sort of commentary.
Today, however, I want to encourage you to read a paraphrase of our passage.
It’s taken from the Message and I can’t believe how much more it makes these verses come alive. I hope you enjoy reading it as much I did!
“This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!
Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you
Life and Good
Death and Evil.
And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.
But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
#1 by Dennis - January 16th, 2010 at 08:21
Choices are something we make daily. We make them but ultimately they make us. Every choice carries with it consequences. That was true for those in today’s reading and it is true for us. Help me Lord to be wise in the choices I have to make.