Choose life. Deuteronomy 30:19/20
19"...Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
MyComments: Today (this is updated yet wanted to leave in the birth as it is pertinent to the writing at this time) my 9th Great Grand child is struggling to come out and live in this world. We all at one point struggled to come out into this world, to live. Why is it we struggled so hard to be born through our Mothers and we do not always accept the free gift of real life that lasts an eternity with the God of the Universe?
To be born through our Mothers takes time usually. And it usually takes struggle and pain. Yet the gift of Jesus is without pain, without suffering, without any struggle (except maybe the internal struggle one goes through before accepting the freely given gift of salvation) and it doesn't take anymore time than it takes to say, "Yes!"
Being born here usually is work at least for most Mom's and often the baby as well. Being born into the family of God doesn't take any work. We can't "do" anything except accept the righteousness our Lord obtained by what He did. He went to the cross willingly to suffer and die so we could have the free gift of salvation.
In Deuteronomy the Lord is talking to the Israelites specifically, yet we know the whole Bible is for all of His people. Even those of us who have been adopted and because we have been adopted by the Lord all of His commandments apply to us (this is not replacement theology which is wrong). Now if we were in the Old Testament times we would have a very hard impossible time of trying to keep all the Commandments God gave the people through Moses (and those who say they follow the Ten Commandments today have the same problem as no one can keep them completely or perfectly so all sin). Now those of us who came after the Lord Jesus' Crucifixion no longer are under the law of Moses. Jesus gave us two commands. Love God and Love our neighbor. On those two all the Commandments rest.
In other words those two commands cover everything else one could think of. Jesus took our sin to Himself and when we accept His righteousness we have life with Him in us. Then we become God's adopted children. At that time we can choose to work to bring glory to God our Father or be lazy (there are many verses in the Bible about being lazy) and never grow as a person in relationship with Abba our Father. In the new Testament you will find places where it talks about the maturity we should have as followers of Christ. Some were told they were babies, some were told they would be given milk not meat to eat.
My Grandson will drink his Mama's milk (some get their milk in a bottle but it is still milk) then when he gets older he will eat from the table. We have the choice of feeding on the Word of God and building a strong relationship and becoming mature in our relationship. Those who mature are working in the fields, they are the ones in Ministry and are the hands and feet of the Lord God, they live on and in the Word of God and they feed others the Word. They are Holy (set apart) as the Lord is Holy, they are servants with servant hearts and do all they can in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet one cannot get to maturity unless one is Born Again, feeds on the Word and grows.
Abba Father, Thank You for all You are, have and will do for us. Thank You for making us a part of Your family and help us to give up our childish ways of selfishness and laziness. Strengthen us in Your word and Your ways that when we get to heaven You will say, "Well done good and faithful servant." Guide us Abba as we increase in our knowledge and understanding of all You have for us to learn in reading and living Your word. Give us discernment on what You are saying to us and give us Your heart for those who are babies in the faith that we will help them as they go from drinking milk to eating meat, as they go from taking baby steps to running the race You have set before them to bring You glory and praise. In Jesus Name in union with the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Rebishka
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