“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” – Deuteronomy 30:19
This stands as one of the Bible’s most straightforward messages on human decision-making and God’s will for His people. Moses made it clear that to choose the Lord is to choose life and blessing.
God shows Himself as sovereign but not a tyrant. He set before Israel both life and death, blessing and cursing, and then gave them the freedom to choose. Just as the angels including lucifer, who became satan when he fell into sin. We are all given a free will. We are all created with the ability to make choices. But with that freedom comes accountability.
Throughout Scripture, we see examples of choices and their consequences:
- Adam and Eve: When tempted, Adam chose to follow Eve rather than obey God’s command, bringing sin into the world.
- Sarah: When she gave Hagar to Abraham, she bore the consequences of her decision.
- David: When he chose to sin with Bathsheba, he faced painful consequences.
- Judas: Though he walked with Jesus and witnessed His forgiveness, he chose betrayal and despair rather than repentance.
Yet the greatest choice ever made was by the Lord Jesus Himself. He chose to give His life for us, bearing our sins so that we could be reconciled to God. At the cross, heaven and earth bore witness that the LORD Jesus took death and the curse upon Himself. And when He rose again, He offered life and blessing to all.
Now, just as Israel was called to choose, each of us must also make a choice. To choose life is to choose the Lord’s way above our own. Any other path leads to destruction. Moses’ call was not only about rules, but about the heart:
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 10:12).
And the Lord Jesus made the same invitation in the New Testament:
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17–18)
Here we read in Scripture that the Lord Jesus showed His death was not forced upon Him. It was a choice of love and obedience. He willingly laid down His life to give us eternal life.
But He did not stop there. He also said,
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
In other words, if we truly claim to love Him, we will keep His instructions, His guidance, and His commands. And more than that,
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25).
If we claim to love Jesus, we will also desire to follow Him. But following Him comes with a cost. It means crucifying our own desires, ambitions, plans, and will. It means no longer counting our life as dear, but entrusting it fully to Him. Losing our life for His sake that we gain true life.
Apostle Paul says,
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Today, heaven and earth are witnesses that God has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. Just as Moses urged Israel, so the Lord Jesus now urges us. When Christ came into the world, His very presence offered salvation to all who believe and receive Him, but for those who reject Him, they already condemned.
‘Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead’ (Acts 17:30–31).
Todays, the choice is yours, to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Choose life! Do not harden your heart. Do not delay.
Choose Christ ! so that you and your family may be saved.”
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