Promise Keepers Canada’s Men of Integrity Devotional,
published by Christianity Today International.

Choose Wisely

Key Bible Verse: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses …. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Dig Deeper: Proverbs 3
Life and death are major themes in the Book of Proverbs. The words “life” and “live” occur around 56 times in this book, and the words “death” and “die” around 20 times. And when we say that something is “a matter of life and death,” we mean that it matters above all else.

We sinners stray into the territory of death every day. But in the Book of Proverbs God is counseling us, alerting us to where death lurks. When the sage warns his son against sexual sin, for example, he says, “The dead are there” (Prov. 9:18, ESV et viagra equivalent al.). There is a hell before Hell. But there is also a heaven before Heaven. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

This is what God wants for every one of us today: to die less and live more through Christ.

There is a road, and there is a destination. The question is, where are we going with our lives? Everyone is on a journey. We can choose our own path, but we cannot choose our own consequences, our own destination. “In the path of righteousness [only] is life.”

—Ray Ortlund Jr. in Proverbs: Wisdom that Works

My Response: What are some ways I can “choose life” today?

Thought to Apply: We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.—Jimmy Carter (39th president)
Adapted from Proverbs: Wisdom that Works (Crossway, 2012) by permission.

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