Thursday after Ash Wednesday

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

No matter how much we might want to convince ourselves otherwise, it is only by dying to our self interests that we can live for God. Every time we choose selfish sin over selfless love, we choose death over life. Every time we choose power, glory, wealth, lust, or any other vice over virtue, we choose death over life. Every time we turn our backs on the needs of others in favor of our own wants, we choose death over life. It is not easy choosing life over death because we are told that it’s the people you know, the places you go, and the things you have that prove whether your life is worth living. However, all of these worldly things are temporary. They are not the foundation of everlasting life. They come and go, but God remains with us always. It is only by loving Him, heeding His Voice, and Holding fast to Him that we find the true purpose of our lives. Without Him, we are dead, but with Him we shall live forever.

Are we choosing a blessed life with God or a cursed death with the world? Have we loved God as we should and heeded His Voice? What can we do to show that we are holding fast to God and His message of selfless love?

O Lord, give us lives that last, filled with faith and good works.

Amen.