Daily Jewel

by   Pastor J.T. Carnell,  McAlester, OK

“Choose Real Life” 

“Keep my commands and you will live...” – Proverbs 7:2 (NIV)

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

– Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Moses was near the end of his life.  He had spent the last 40 years of his life giving himself entirely to God and the nation of Israel.  It makes one wonder, had he not obeyed the voice and command of God would he have lived those additional 40 years and would things have turned out the way they did?  Guess we will never know the answer to that will we?

I love life!  Life is fun and most of the time it is rewarding!  For those who do not know me or my background I have in the last couple of years became a grandfather to a beautiful and vivacious little girl.  The times I am with her make me so appreciative of the fact that I survived her mother’s childhood and teenage years so that I could enjoy this wonderful grandchild! (And I really do love my daughter too!) The same can be said for my new grandson—who is a spitting image of his father.  I look forward to the days that I can spend with him—teaching him to love life—his parents—and most of all to love Jesus.  Something that I did not receive as a child.

I did not grow up in a Christian home.  My mother was a good woman, but not a spiritual one.  I believe she knew of God, perhaps at some point of her life she attempted to follow Him, but she was not what I would call an ardent follower.  The latter years of her life were not good ones...in fact she was downright miserable and made the people around her the same.  She harbored a great deal of anger and bitterness from her past—“demons” that hounded her that in retrospect truly drained the life out of her. 

As a child growing up I was completely unaware of any “problems” beside the fact that she was left to raise a teenage boy on her own after my father died.   It was only after I had left home and returned for visits did I begin to notice a number of “hints” that her life was less than fulfilled and happy.  She was not destitute by any means—nor was she outrageously wealthy but she was “comfortable.”  As I reflect back it was evident that the one thing she did not have was a close and personal relationship with Christ.  I often wonder that if she would have had that then perhaps she would have allowed Him to exorcise the demons that kept her bound to her discontent.

The purpose of this search into my past was (is) to prove a point:  The “commands” of God were never intended to be oppressive or uncaring.  In fact the complete opposite is true; they are intended to give life meaning and complete satisfaction.  Consider the following from the book of Leviticus:

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.  Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.  I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.” – Leviticus 26:3-6 (NIV)

Notice the part that says, “I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.”  Now, call me a bit over-zealous in my approach but that does not sound the least bit oppressive to me…it sounds rather comforting.    

I do not want to merely exist—I want to live!  I do not want to allow problems from my past—be they mistakes or sins to prevent me from enjoying the life I have been given.  I do not have a lot in terms of earthly riches—but what I do have makes life worth the living and I plan to do that to the fullest.  Always under the power, presence and commands of the author of life!