There is a big project on my list of goals. Part of me wants to avoid tackling this goal in that it feels beyond my ability. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, or give into a “Why bother?” attitude.

In this moment I have a choice: I tackle the project on my own or trust God will work with me in the challenge.

Today I’m choosing life.

Our days offer more choices than we can count. The most important choices we make bring us into relationship with God.

Consider this key passage about life from the Old Testament:

“So choose life in order that you may live… 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…” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

Choose Life

How many ways have I defined the life I want based on my desires? In this passage, God defines life in the simple terms: Love God with all your heart and all your soul.

[tweetthis]Love for God opens the door to life.[/tweetthis]

Not just the inhale and exhale of our physical breath. Not just walking and talking movements of our days. No, this heart-soul deep love for God brings the life He gives. It is His best, His plan, His way, and His presence.

Many days, I’ve worked hard to create a good life based on my plan, effort, and performance. You too?

God gives us the power of choosing in our lives. From the big decisions that move us in new directions to the countless small moments that add up to a day, we can choose life.

What does this choosing-God-life look like?

Love God With Heart and Soul.

• Love is a relational word–the deep, up-close and personal kind. We don’t love those we don’t know. We may respect character or honor position, but we cannot love the unknown.
• This love-word is wide, deep, and intimate. It spans the love of family and mate, as well as our human appetites for objects–the things we love–food, drink, sleep, wisdom, pleasure to name a few. It pulses with our human love for God, and includes the love of a friend. There is also a very simple side of this word–to like.
• The most significant thing we can do is get to know our God, the One who formed our souls and crafted our purpose for His glory. In loving God, we discover all our other needs and desires have a home in Him.

Obey His voice.

In order to obey his voice we have to do three things:

• Listen. Throw open your attention, your desire, and your thoughts to God, who enters like a breeze through an open window. The entering is His job, our choosing is to be open to His presence. Simply listen.
• Recognize His voice.  Was that God or was that me? Instead of trying to figure that out on my own, I choose to trust God to help me to discern the thoughts that come from Him in whatever form they take.
• Respond with a heart set free from the promotion and protection of our self-life. This means laying down the grasping, coping, wanting, fixing ways of a heart focused on self.
• Choose to do what He says. Choosing brings us to action. It puts feet to our intentions as we walk obedience step-by-step in this love relationship with God.

Hold fast to Him.

Hold fast is a word for keeping close to the heart: to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch.

Holding fast to God keeps our wandering hearts from straying. A child holds a fathers’s hand, secure in love and protection. Holding fast is also the desperate grip of a drowning man clinging to hope, a life-line for the soul.

[tweetthis]The real power of holding fast to God is this: He holds fast to us.[/tweetthis]

What will choosing life look like in your day? Choose life today by loving God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him.