The Choice

Pastor Joel Santti: Deuteronomy 6:4-13

-The admonition to put God first: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deut. 6:5)

-In spite of the admonition, a choice must be made. Deuteronomy 30: 15 - See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil". (See also Deut. 30:19)

-Jesus reaffirmed Deuteronomy 6:5 in Luke 10.

-This choice has been evident from the beginning. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:16-17)

-God doesn't want our choices to come between us and Him.

-Yet fallen man chooses to put things between they and God (other people, jobs, money, sex, etc).

-In the garden, man chose to put creation between they and God.

-In the wilderness, the children of Israel chose to put Moses between them and God (See Exodus 20:19).

-When the Tabernacle (and later the Temple) was built, it had a barrier between they and God.

-God's ultimate desire is that these barriers be removed. This was vividly displayed in the death of Jesus Christ (see Mark 15:37-38).

Blogger's note: the largest and most consequential choice faced by unbelievers and believers alike this year will not be choosing between this guy or this guy, or this or this to drink. The largest and most consequential choice will be whether to put God first in our lives, or to leave Him an afterthought.