Articles
Choose Abundant Living (1)
Choose Abundant Living 1
Mike Willis
The Lord’s laws, including the Ten Commandments, have sometimes been viewed as impositions on man’s happiness. Its sexual restraints against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and bestiality are said to be out of touch with twenty-first century American ethics. Those who believe and teach God’s commandments are said to be old and out-dated, Puritanical in their old-fashioned ways, teaching a way of life irrelevant to 21st century America.
When Moses came to the end of his life and to the last pages of the Torah, here is what he said about God’s laws for mankind:
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. . . . I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 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” (Deut. 30:15-16, 19-20).
Jesus expressed the same attitude toward obedience to God’s revealed word. He emphasized that those who loved God and His Son are those who keep His commandments, saying, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, cf. vv. 21, 23). Jesus promised that those who follow His commandments will find abundant life saying, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Many have a negative image of Christianity that may or may not be accurate pictures of reality. It is a fact that what is practiced in the name of “Christianity” has alienated a significant number of younger Americans who are walking away from “Christianity.” It is my intention to emphasize that the best life on earth is one that is lived in obedience to the commandments of our Lord; truly it is “abundant life.” Choose life and not death!
