Week 12

On Sunday, my pastor’s sermon was out of Deuteronomy 30. He used verses 15 – 19. I decided to use this chapter as my devotional.

What struck me was verse 11. In the NIV, the message is clear. What God is commanding us in His commandments isn’t too difficult or beyond our reach. Now, there are times when it seems like all this self denial is impossible. It seems like keeping the commandments are hard and impossible. We live in a world where we pamper our flesh and deny ourselves little. Oh, to go back to a much simpler time, but I guess humanity has always struggled with this.

I’m constantly amazed about how God’s Word tells us, “I will bless you IF.” The problem is that we want the blessings without making any sacrifice. Like time. I almost complained about how busy I was and how I didn’t have time to do things like exercise and keep a food journal. Then, I realized how much time I spend doing idle things like watching TV. So, yes I have the time. I just need to sacrifice some of my pamper me time, which is really down time, on doing things for my health.

When I read verse 15, the choice seemed pretty easy to me! I can choose life and prosperity or I can choose death and destruction. When I read verse 19, it tells me, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” When it's put like that, what other choice would I make? So, I choose to return to God and obey Him. I choose life!

I notice that I keep praying about relationships. I realize one in particular has me confused. In my opinion, someone in my life is being a little cruel to me, but I don’t know why. All I can do is pray about it!

I realized something yesterday. I really don’t want to fast every week this year. I’m actually not really a big fan of fasting at all. BUT, the fact that I don’t want to do this lets me know that it’s probably good for me to deny myself getting out of this.

Along the same lines, I have decided to not drink alcohol in 2011. I’m not much of a drinker, but I will have the occasional drink. I’m always weary of drinks, drug, and cigarettes because of all the addiction that runs rampant in my family. It’s def something my pastor talks against. The fact that the Bible’s comments about it are along the lines of not being drunk gave me a little leeway. For whatever reason, I decided I wouldn’t drink at all this year. Sometimes I regret deciding this too. But again, it’s probably good for me to deny myself.

I can tell you that doing this makes me realize how quickly weeks can past and turn into months. It explains all so well how quickly time does in fact move.