Quickened part 4
I can't honestly go too long without quoting this memory verse because it (along with most of the rest of them) is one of my favorites. Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Now let's look at this in the context of what we've been talking about. How we WERE dead in our trespasses and sins... but have been quickened together with Jesus through the cross and are NOW alive in Him (even as He lives in us). So while it is, in a sense, a choice... life or death, blessing or cursing... in reality the choice was made for us on the cross. We were given life. Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. We HAVE been quickened. Death died on the cross. It doesn't have to be an issue anymore. So we ought not make it an issue anymore. We ought to choose to experience the gift we've been given. Experience the life we've been given by letting Jesus live it Himself in us, and through us, and as us. Listen: Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. The harder we try to "be" Him, or walk in His foot steps, the more frustrated we'll get. We'll mess up. And we'll think that disqualifies us. We'll think we're not doing enough. We'll think we haven't earned it. Guys. We CAN'T earn it. You can't earn a gift. If you have to earn it... its not a gift. And the eternal life of God--knowing the one true God, and the One that He sent... knowing God as heavenly Father and ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased--that's the gift of God. Can't be earned. And has already been given to us. Must be received. Must be received AND released. Because releasing that gift is HOW we receive it. Love IS giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. We share what we have, and in that way we experience it. We share what we have, and in that way we "choose" it. Which, by the way, is what God said after putting the choice in front of us. He said, "Choose life." We have been given life... we ought not squander it. We have been given a gift. We ought to enjoy it. And, like I said the other day, we tend to act like we're dying a lot of the time. In a sense CHOOSING death. Maybe because we're afraid to live? Because we're so "comfortable" with where we are? We've settled. Taken what life gives us and said, "Yeah I guess this is it." But that's not it. There is so much more available to us. There is LOVE available to us. Love is the difference between life and death. That's as simply, and as strongly, as I can put it. No love, no life. Know love, know life! God quickened us because He loved us. He put the choice before us because He wanted us to be able to make a choice. God's not a control freak. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. As my grandpa says, you can do anything you want... as long as you're willing to pay the consequences. We can choose to continue on in death, as the walking dead... but I wouldn't recommend it. Choose life. Choose love. Let God love you, and love Him back by loving the people that you come into contact with!