"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life an death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days..."
There are some who will walk away saying, "It's too hard to be a Christian". What they usually mean is, "I don't like what is being asked of me." If there would have ever been cause for this kind of spirit, and they often thought there was cause, the children of Israel would have been at the front of the line. God was asking everything of them when when He laid out His call to be a "holy" people. But Moses wouldn't let them buy into any idea that the call was too hard. He simply responded by saying, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it." The beauty of being God's children is that He never asks us to do anything unreasonable or unnecessary. Nor does He tease us with things that will always be out of our reach because it's too hard. He longs for us to know life abundantly and pours out on us the only way of life. The idea that the commandments of God are too hard, or that God's way is way too hard on us, is a lie. The commandments of God are to save us from the destructive path of our own way: "for this is your life and the length of your days..." With this perspective, the urgency of our prayer changes to, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law," (Psalm 119:18). Then we would join with the Psalmist in declaring, "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart," (Psalm 119:32). LORD, give me a big heart for your word and your ways!
There are some who will walk away saying, "It's too hard to be a Christian". What they usually mean is, "I don't like what is being asked of me." If there would have ever been cause for this kind of spirit, and they often thought there was cause, the children of Israel would have been at the front of the line. God was asking everything of them when when He laid out His call to be a "holy" people. But Moses wouldn't let them buy into any idea that the call was too hard. He simply responded by saying, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it." The beauty of being God's children is that He never asks us to do anything unreasonable or unnecessary. Nor does He tease us with things that will always be out of our reach because it's too hard. He longs for us to know life abundantly and pours out on us the only way of life. The idea that the commandments of God are too hard, or that God's way is way too hard on us, is a lie. The commandments of God are to save us from the destructive path of our own way: "for this is your life and the length of your days..." With this perspective, the urgency of our prayer changes to, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law," (Psalm 119:18). Then we would join with the Psalmist in declaring, "I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart," (Psalm 119:32). LORD, give me a big heart for your word and your ways!
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