Eternal Punishment and the Choice of Life

Today's Reading:

• Deuteronomy 31:1 - 32:1

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Deuteronomy 31:1 - 32:1
The Lord told Moses that he was soon to die.  Moses was 120 years old when he addressed the people and told him that it was soon his time to go.  It pains me that Moses did not get to go to the promised land himself because one of his previous actions greatly angered the Lord.  But the Lord told Moses that his time was near, and Moses was to prepare for it.

The Lord also told Moses that the people will break His covenant when they enter the new land.  They were continually breaking His laws when Moses was there; once he was gone it was going to get much worse, until the point comes where the Lord has to pour down the curses he warned them of.  The reading ends with the Lord giving Moses a song to teach the people, so that when all that has been promised comes to pass, that they know why it has happened and so they know that the Lord has turned away from them. 

That's such a scary thought -- being told by the Lord that these horrible things will come to pass because of how you acted.  If the Lord told YOU of the things that would come to pass if you turned away from Him, would you listen before it becomes too late? 

My last reading in Deuteronomy was about the choice between life and death.  In that passage Moses warns the people to fear the Lord -- suffering on earth is only temporary; but the Lord deals out in eternal punishment. 

Eternal punishment -- that is not a topic I focus on much at all.  I believe whole-hardheartedly in Jesus Christ, and I tend to focus on the great things the Lord provides to me and my family.  He blesses us, He provisions for us, and He protects us.  That being said, I would greatly fear the wrath of the Lord if I wasn't on His side. 

The Lord does warn us about what will happen if we don't follow Him.  It's called Hell - and it is an eternal punishment greater than any curse that we might deal with on the earth.  We are warned, and we need to take heed of that warning.  Do we take the blessings of the Lord?  Do we stand at His side, allow Him to provide for us, and live for eternity in a world with no suffering?  Or do we choose eternal punishment?  The choice for me is clear -- it is a choice of life. 

There are More Important Things than Tithing

Today's Reading:

• Luke 11:37 - 12:7

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Luke 11:37 - 12:7
Jesus had dinner with one of the Pharisees.  There he preached the Pharisees and to the scholars of religious law.  Verse 11:42 caught my attention:

"What sorrow awaits you Pharisees!  For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God.  You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things."

I thought it was interesting that there are more important things that tithing.  Not that tithing isn't important -- Jesus says that it is.  But what is more important to the Lord is that we are right with him; that we recognize his justice and his ways of doing things -- not our own.  The Pharisees were giving money faithfully, but still Jesus was angry because their "insides" were not clean (11:40).  That just goes to show that it doesn't matter how much money you tithe if your heart is not in the right place.

Later Jesus preached to the crowd.  Verses 12:4 - 5 really caught my attention:

"Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that.  But I'll tell you whom to fear.  Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell.  Yes, he's the one to fear."

 That's a very powerful statement.  First of all, suppose the absolute worse happens to us, and we are murdered by someone.  We are told not to fear, because that is the worst that person can do.  That's completely contrary to human nature to not fear that someone might kill us, right? 

Jesus tells us not to worry about.  Instead, we should be afraid of the wrath of the Lord -- of being given an eternal punishment of hell.  That would be far worse than someone killing your body on earth.  As scary as that statement is -- and we do need to fear the Lord -- but as scary as that is, it comes with an unspoken promise.  Eternal life.  Someone might kill our body, and if that happens then at least we have an eternal life.  And this eternal life will be so great that we should not even concern ourselves with the loss of this life.  The thought of that is truly amazing!