"... Choose life! Be completely faithful to the Lord your God, love Him and do whatever He tells you..." (Deuteronomy 30:19d-20a)
Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Have you ever wondered why you try to do the right thing and live a life of integrity and honesty and yet you somehow feel that somebody you know who lives the exact opposite lifestyle- doing all the wrong and selfish things and living a life of lies and dishonesty seems to be happier and better off than you? In fact you are so convinced of this that it appears your life of doing the right and honest way is bringing you nothing but pain, suffering, and misery. Yet there is your neighbor prospering and happy in what seems to be a life that you wish you had. Deuteronomy seems to contradict this feeling by saying that if you do the right thing and live an honest life of integrity then you will be successful and prosperous. In fact as Christians many of us have bought into this "prosperity theology". But in many ways we end up still wondering in the end how we can be so miserable doing the right and honest thing while the selfish and untrustworthy seems to be the ones prospering. In the Old Testament the people of God suffered this complex. They constantly went after other gods because in their eyes these gods made all the other peoples rich and prosperous. They seemed poor and unsophisticated in comparison. Here's the breakdown on biblical-style prosperity: we are only as blessed and prosperous as the center of our love and devotion. The excised section of the so-called "prosperity" passage in Deuteronomy gives this away. Choose life! But real life is defined as living faithful to "someone" supernatural... that this someone is the object of our total love and affection. It is out of this intimate, no-strings-attached passion that we "follow and obey" the supernatural one we love... that we live like Him... right... honest... truthful. Let's try this experiment (this is the dare in Deuteronomy): let's live right and honest for no other reason than because we love a right and honest Lord... no conditions... no strings attached. Maybe the reason we're miserable is because we are trying to do the right and honest thing for the wrong reasons.
"Jesus I am really wanting to understand the point of living right, honest, and truthful. But Lord it just doesn't seem to make me happy or fulfilled. I confess I end up resenting the right, honest, and truthful choices I make because it doesn't make me prosperous, happy, or successful. Lead me Lord! I want to follow you and stay faithful to you because I love you... and I want to love you! Please let that be enough for me... please Lord."
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