Blessings to you, loved ones.

I sure enjoyed our Homecoming celebration on Sunday.  Even though we had to keep it low key, we still had a good time.  Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen.  We took some time during the service to share our favorite memories.  I captured that and uploaded it as a podcast if you would like to listen.  You may need to turn your volume up a bit but I don’t think you will have trouble hearing everyone.  If you weren’t able to come, chime in on the comments and share your own memories.

We did miss Tim and Cindy.  I just heard from her that Tim is doing much better.  He is going on solid food and should get to come home soon.  Things do not appear to be as bad as what they were told at first.

For the last several days, I have had Deuteronomy 30:19-20 on my mind.  Moses is speaking to to the people of Israel.  He reminds them of all that Yahweh had done for them, and he confirms Yahweh’s s law as the covenant by which they must live in order to be blessed.  After detailing the blessings that will come from obedience and the curses that will come from disobedience, verse 19 says, “…life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. So choose life, …”

This is also a message for us today.  When we do things God’s way, we make room for His blessing in our lives.  It doesn’t mean we’ll never face adversity.  Israel still had to fight in order to gain the land that God promised them.  It does mean that we will ultimately gain the victory.  On the other hand, when we do things our way, we can expect bad things to happen.  This should not be a hard concept for us to grasp, but we struggle with it because we want what we want and we’re good at rationalization.  Yet we don’t have a problem with this in the natural world.  We use tools for their intended purpose and we know that using something for a purpose that it wasn’t made for may result in breaking both the tool and the thing you’re trying to fix.  God made His world to work a certain way.  He gave us the instruction manual, but we won’t read it.  Then we get upset when our lives are broken.

Sin has consequences.  God may take an active role in punishing sin.  We know that He will in the end.  We also know that punishment is part of love.  However, most of the time the consequence comes simply because we insist on disobeying the laws that govern God’s universe.  Just as we can’t ignore the laws of physics, we can’t ignore spiritual laws.

I hope you’ll come next week and be encouraged to “Choose Life.”

Love y’all!

Larry