Resources/Articles
The Choice
I have set before you today
life and good,
death and evil.
Deuteronomy 30:15
Do you remember the name John Wilkes Booth? He assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. You may not know Edwin Booth, John’s eldest brother. Edwin, a well-known actor, was waiting at a Jersey City train station when he saw someone slip and fall off the platform. Edwin quickly grabbed the man’s collar and pulled him to safety, rescuing him from serious injury or death. Who was the man he saved? It happened to be Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert, a soldier in the Civil War.
How ironic that the man who saved Lincoln’s son had a brother who would soon kill the President. One saved a life. One took a life. One chose life. The other chose death.
You cannot take lightly the choices you make. Each choice affects you daily. Each choice affects others daily. No choice is without impact. No choice is without a blessing or a curse. God gave HIs people a choice between life and death. They could love Him and obey His commands (Deuteronomy 30:16), or they could worship and serve other gods (v. 17). He told them, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life” (v. 19).
The choice God gave Israel was similar to the one made by Adam and Eve. Their choice to sin made its impact upon the first couple and the rest of the world. “Therefore, as through one man sin entered in the world, and death through sin, and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Would they have ever thought the consequences of their choice would have such a bearing upon the lives of those who lived after them? Their choice brought darkness and death man has continually struggled to overcome.
Consider the choice of another man, Jesus Christ. His choice to live without sin (1 Peter 2:21) and to please His Father and not Himself brought life to those who were “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). What Jesus did was empty Himself, take the form of man, and humble himself to obedience, yea the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). The results of His actions were different than those of Adam. “And not as through one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification. For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:16,17).
What choice then will you make? Will it be life or death? Jesus is the Savior who brings life. Reject Him, and we live in darkness forever without Him. The best choice is clear. Choose life! Choose Jesus! The choice you make today will determine where you will be tomorrow...
