See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, as well as death and disaster.Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
3 sermons cite this verse
… with one clear commandment ringing through them all. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live. So that's my proof text. Thank you, Mimsy. Choose life. It's not always our choice to make, and some lose their lives guarding the lives of others. But when it is within our power, we're commanded to choose life, that we and all our planetary descendants may live. So what does that mean? Choose life. It sounds like one of those commandments, you should really just leave alone. it's so full of meaning, it would be a shame to decide on one meaning instead of many. So what I did instead was to think about what nourishes life, the vitalities that can bring it back to life. When any kind of death is banging on the door, spiritual death, sure, but also the physical kind, the emotional kind, the communal kind, the global kind, I can't make anyone else's list for them. …
… As the children of Israel are about to embark upon life in the new land, verse 15 of Deuteronomy 30, the Lord says, See, I have set before you today life and prosperity and death and adversity. In that, I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments." That sums up the entire revelation. I command you, love the Lord your God, walk in His ways, keep His commandments, statutes, judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you're entering to possess it. But if your heart turn away, and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you're crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. …
… behold, I set before you this day life and death, and you must choose. I set before you life and death. And what is life? Life is to do God's will. Life is to love the Lord your God so deeply that you form yourselves by His will and life. That's what life is that is really life. Choose life that you and your children may live. But there's an interesting little wrinkle here. the difference between what this speech appears to be and what it actually is. Let me get at that this way. This is President's Weekend, and if you have seen the 2012 movie, Lincoln, you know that it is the inspiring story of how our 16th President of the United States, states, Abraham Lincoln, right at the end of the Civil War, managed to push through a resistant Congress the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and then on to the states for ratification. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution was the one that abolished the practice of slavery, our nation's original sin. …