~ Choose Life! ~

When all these blessings and curses
I have set before you
come upon you
and you take them to heart
wherever The Lord your God disperses you
among the nations,
and when you and your children
return to the Lord your God
and obey Him
with all your heart and with all your soul
according to everything I command you today,
then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes
and have compassion on you
and gather you again
from all the nations where he scattered you.
Even if you have been banished
to the most distant land under the heavens,
and from there
the Lord your God will gather you
and bring you back.
He will bring
you to the land that belonged to your fathers,
and you will take possession of it.
He will make you more prosperous and numerous
than your fathers.
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts
and the hearts of your descendants,
so that you may love Him
with all your heart and with all your soul,
and live.
The Lord your God will put these curses on your enemies
who hate and persecute you.
You will again obey the Lord
and follow all His commands I am giving you today.
Then the Lord your God will make you
most prosperous in all the work of your hands
and in the fruit of your womb,
the young of your livestock
and the crops of your land.
The Lord will make delight in you
and make you prosperous,
just as He delighted in your fathers,
if you obey the Lord your God
and keep His commands and decrees
that are written in the Book of the Law
and turn to the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul.

Now what I am commanding you today
is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
It is not up in heaven, so you have to ask,
"Who will ascend into heaven
to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?
Nor is it beyond the sea,
so that you have to ask,
"Who will cross the sea to get it
and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
No, the word is very near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart
so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity,
death and destruction.
For I command you today to love the Lord your God,
to walk in His ways,
and to keep His commands, decrees and laws,
then you will live and increase,
and the Lord your God will bless you in the land
you are entering to posses.

But if your heart turns away
and you are not obedient,
and if you are drawn away
to bow down to other gods and worship them,
I declare to you this day
that you will certainly be destroyed.
You will not live long in the land you
are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth
as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses.
No chose 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 your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

(Deuteronomy 30)

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I love this chapter - 
so reassuring on a personal level,
especially when remembering
that 'land' means the church.