With all the challenges of life and the negativity of a dark and dying world, it’s not difficult to adopt a mental state of cynicism or even allow these current events to condition our minds toward a negative attitude. The Lord puts the simple choice before us in Deuteronomy 11:27-28, “A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God… And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God…”

As Christ said, if you love him, you will follow his commandments, and he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. But you see, a lot of it depends on our attitudes toward that life. We can’t let life get us down and have life more abundantly.

God gives us the path that leads to blessing and also the path that leads to a curse. As disciples of Christ, there is a personal responsibility to “choose life!” and walk it out in our own lives. Each of us is to see personally that our choice resulting in blessing or cursing affects others in our lives.

We are, as Christ said in Matthew 5:14, “the light of the world,” and in verse 16, to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

If we allow ourselves to be influenced negatively and view our life in the world as such, how then can we let our light so shine? Will it be a blessing or a curse to not only ourselves but also to others who engage with us?

We also are directed to look on others with compassion. Deuteronomy 15:9 says, “Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart… and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cries to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.”

There is an imperative here urging us to be careful how we think; our thoughts affect our hearts, and that, in turn, affects our choices and actions. Cynical thoughts are a symptom of a hardened heart that has trouble feeling sympathy for others. It’s one thing to be realistic and assess events in facts and in truth. It’s yet another to look at everything in a negative light because, as a person thinks, he is and does.

Our eyes truly are a mirror to the soul; what we choose to “see” has everything to do with God’s favor. Proverbs 11:27 says, “Whoever diligently seeks good procures favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.”

The person who seeks good in Hebrew is called “the shocher tov,” a “seeker of good” who uses the “good eye” to see the needs and pains of others in love and compassion. Just as God had given the Israelites a momentous choice of the path to become a holy and blessed nation, we also have a choice to choose the path of our lives as well.

What does your eye “see” – the blessings or the curses? For what your eye sees and your heart receives, you will be. It’s your choice. Choose wisely that you may have life and have it more abundantly.

Posted in The Daily Jot

In 1860, Anna B. Warner wrote the song “Jesus Loves Me.” Many of us grew up with this song in Sunday School because it tells us as children that “Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.” There are five verses. As kids, we probably didn’t sing all five, but the last verse goes like this:

“Jesus loves me! He will stay close beside me all the way; Thou hast bled and died for me, I will henceforth live for Thee.”

Also, in the 1800s, Hymnist Fanny Crosby wrote a similarly-themed hymn, “Because He first loved me,” saying,

“I love my blessed Savior because He first loved me.”

These songs have a far deeper meaning that goes back to the time of Moses teaching the Israelites about God’s love and how to experience it.

In Deuteronomy 7:12, Moses says,

“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the love that he swore to your fathers.”

The traditional Jewish interpretation of this verse is,

“because you will listen…” as in, “and it shall be that your heel is ready to take a step, you will listen to your heart.”

This is the step of faith, as you walk with God, you will come to know that love—and love Him in return. Listening and responding is the point. If the people listen to God’s word and are obedient to it, then the blessings of God will be abundant. The more we walk with the LORD God and hear His ways, the closer we will be drawn to Him.

Moses reminded them how the LORD had kept them all the years in the wilderness and did this so that they would look to Him for their needs. And now the Promised Land laid before them, and the LORD would continue to care for them as He had in the desert.

The blessedness came from walking by faith. Moses warned the people not to forget the LORD by ignoring His commandments.  If they forgot their deliverance and turned away, trusting in their own ingenuity, God promised they would soon perish from the land. Moses reminded the people of God’s forgiveness, exhorting them to “circumcise” their hearts–that is, to remove their hardheartedness. Open hearts toward the love of God compels us to love Him in return.

The book of Deuteronomy mentions the word love over twenty times, mostly dealing with God’s love for us as His people. Let us recall Christ telling the lawyer in Matthew 22:37 what is the most important commandment:

“to love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Jesus is reaffirming the Jewish Shema, commanding us to also love the Lord God in response to His love.

1 John 4:19 says,

“We love him, because he first loved us.”

Let us learn to walk with God, with Christ, learning His ways and His love for us that we might Love the LORD our God with all our heart, our mind, and strength. By this, we might also love our neighbor as ourself, showing the light of Christ to all.

Posted in The Daily Jot