Choosing Life and Deuteronomy 30

As a teenager, Reha chose life for her unborn child. Though young and alone, Reha bravely faced social stigma by completing her pregnancy as a single mom.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose 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.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20a

How did she choose life? In her loneliness and despair Reha found Christians who also chose life and entered into her journey. Through the Crown of Beauty maternity home that 10/40 Connections and our Asian partners built together, she found hope. (Great thanks also to 10/40’s U.S. partners who gave generously to complete the home in 2018).

But note – what type of Christians helped Reha? They were NOT silent, NOT apathetic, and NOT passive. They were willing to be inconvenienced. The ones who helped allowed their lives to be disrupted for the sake of someone else. They were the ones who knew that God gives life, that life has value, and that we have a responsibility to protect and promote life – no matter how tiny.

The Obedience of Choosing
The “choose life” passage in Deuteronomy 30 encompasses more than only the issue of abortion, but it certainly includes it! As such, it contains some key insights regarding the pre-born and their mothers. We should all understand that a global war is taking place. In 2018, over 42 million babies’ lives were lost – with 98% due to convenience or economic reasons. Millions did not choose life. So…let’s make Deuteronomy practical. Oh yes, the Scriptures were meant to be obeyed, not merely discussed with flowery words and rational minds!

• God sets before us all two options – life and death. Life is full of choices, some we like and some we don’t. Specifically, regarding life and death, God invites us to choose. With life comes blessings; with death comes curses. If God gives us two options that means that both are possible. We could choose this one or that one. A choice needs to be made.
  So that is your action step of obedience – understand your options and decide where you want to line up.
• God tells us to choose life. If you need prodding in a certain direction or wonder which way to go, God is not trying to trick you. He clearly gives the best option and encourages us to choose wisely – LIFE! God then outlines two consequences if we choose life.
  1. Our children may live (here the passage certainly includes reproductive decisions).
  2. That you may love the Lord, listen to His voice, and hold fast to him.
  The action step of obedience could not be clearer – choose life and receive God’s rewards, or suffer consequences.
• God provides the ultimate foundation – Himself! God states that all hearers of this passage should all choose life because “the Lord is your life.”
  Whether you are Jewish (like Moses, the author) or not (like us and most of our readers), God is the Author and Source of each of our lives. Indeed, life itself is God’s idea and life is in keeping with his character as the Giver of life. So do all of us live for him in every area of our existence?
  The step of action is to examine first, is God truly your life? If not, go find a Christian who can help change that for you. Second if God is your life, then the decision to choose life should naturally follow. You owe your very life to God, every breath, every heartbeat. You owe God your spiritual life, your salvation, your forgiveness, your eternal LIFE.

The Practical Action
We display the Lord every time we vote, every time we give (or don’t), every time we help with an adoption or foster child (or don’t), every time we serve (or don’t) if we are people who choose life. In the issues of abortion, God chooses to work through His people, whose God is their life, to speak up for the tiniest little ones who can’t yet be heard.

So what happened to Reha’s baby? Well, this brave teenager chose adoption for her child. A married couple who attended one of 10/40’s Voice for the Voiceless seminars then adopted Reha’s baby! God is amazingly good. Yes, doing life God’s way… it may be harder and more complex, but it always leads to life, peace, and good choices.

When we fight for the vulnerable, the innocent, and the exploited we expend energy and essentially give part of our own lives away. And in that place of giving life and showing love, God’s eyes rest on us and He whispers, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

There’s nothing more we want to hear.