Life or Death?
The Choice is Yours!
As I sat ruminating on the nature of life, I got two contrasting pieces of news, both affirming the dynamics of human existence: First, a young couple, friends of our family, welcomed a set of twins — a boy and a girl, marking the beginning of two manifestations of life. It was the couple’s first experience with parenting; Second, the passing of a Christian sister to that side of eternity. It was a mixed feeling of grief and thanksgiving; grief for losing the company of our sister, and thanksgiving because Scripture teaches us to give thanks in all things. Thankful because our sister has gone to be with her Savior. Her passing brings us to the reality of our own mortality — nudging us to stay focused. For who knows the next in line?
Life and Death connote different things to believers and unbelievers in Christ. For an unbeliever, life is the existence of an individual human being or animal. It is “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity and continual change preceding death” (Oxford Languages).
But for believers life goes beyond existence here and now to life hereafter. It is the life of God in the believer — what distinguishes the temple of the living God from the life of a sinner.
The lyrics of an old congregational singing during Sunday's service underscore the eternal truth of Philippians 1:21: “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” Here it goes:
We come, O Christ, to You/ True Son of God and Man/ By whom all life began/ In You alone we live and move/ And have our being — in Your love./ You only are true Life/ To know You is to live/ The more abundant life/ That Earth can never give./ O risen Lord! We live in You/ In us each day Your life renew!
Seen from the perspective of fallen human nature, living life has a tendency to gloat in the abundance of what we get from the earth— showcasing opulence and greed. This, potentially, is the perspective of new-day prosperity gospel preachers — twisting the gospel message to reflect their personal ambition and craving for material possessions.
Also, death or dying has two sides to it. There’s the physical death and there’s the spiritual death. Spiritual death is separation from God caused by sin. Isaiah 59:2 says “Your sins have separated you and God.” This spiritual death is also regarded as the death of the soul. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
God called Abraham out of his world — promising to take him to a new land and to give his descendants a land flowing with milk and honey. Over four hundred years later, He delivered them from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 6). At Sinai, they started on a journey to the land of promise. The promised land would be a Trophy; Milk and Honey, a Reward — waiting to be accessed. Abraham’s descendants still had to work for it. They had to leave Egypt, vacate Sinai, and journey through the wilderness to get there (Exodus 12–30).
They could not make it to the promised land in one day. In normal time, the journey from Sinai to the land flowing with “milk and honey” takes 11 days. But because Abraham’s descendants were distracted — failing to keep to the rules of the road — a journey of 11 days took them 40 years — of struggle, pain, hunger, thirst, battles, death, and destruction. All the adults who left Egypt, save Caleb and Joshua, perished in the wilderness.
Though they desired happiness, a good life, and prosperity they got the opposite — because they failed to walk in obedience.
The book of Deuteronomy chapters 28–30, gives us a picture of what happened as they approached the promised land. At the point of entry, Moses called the children of Israel — great-grandchildren of Abraham to a solemn assembly and laid before them what he called, Life and Death:
He said to them:
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven so you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey…No, the word is very near you: it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. “See, I set before you life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess (Deuteronomy. 30:11–16).
These are the children of Israel on the brink of entering a new land. I see a parallel between them and the twin babies entering the world, and the parental responsibility to raise our kids in the fear of the Lord.
Now at the entrance to the promised land, all Israelites who were below the age of twenty at Sinai — now adults, are given another chance to revisit the laws given to their elders at Sinai — that they may choose the path to tread in the promised land.
When Moses said, he was setting before them “life and prosperity, death and destruction,” he was showing the people the inevitable results of their choices. It was meant to help them see the implications of their actions. Apparently, no one was expected to choose death and destruction.
Deuteronomy Chapter 28 lists the blessings for obedience (vv.1–14) and the curses for disobedience (vv.15–68). Here the principle of sowing and reaping is at play practically, and spiritually. Galatians 6: 7–9 takes us through the meaning of reaping what we sow:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows; whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction, whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Apostle Paul was writing within the framework of an agrarian economy. The message was clear to his readers of the time. It’s about taking the fruits of what is sown. What does it mean to us today? The passage starts with, “Do not be deceived — meaning don’t be fooled, don’t be led astray. God cannot be “mocked” means God cannot be fooled. You can deceive and mislead a person, not God. You might indeed fool many people, but you are not going to fool God.
In life, you will harvest what you put in. Your input will determine your outcomes.
On the spiritual plane, Paul talks about the difference between sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit. The flesh refers to our sinful nature — doing what is wrong, ungodly, and sinful. The result will always be destruction. Bad decisions lead to bad consequences. Others who sow to the Spirit allow themselves to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. They live a God-honoring life. The result? They reap eternal life.
We have to separate the act of sowing to the Spirit from the notion of financially sowing into a ministry or the life of a church leader to attract material blessing from God. It is absolutely right to appreciate the labor of our leaders by giving and supporting them in whatever way we are led to give. It is also obligatory for believers to advance the gospel of Christ with our resources.
However, physical and material prosperity flows from acts of sowing (investing) in profit-generating businesses. It is a principle that works in the marketplace with all humans regardless of location, age, religion, and spiritual status. The richest man on earth is not a Christian, while most of the world’s billionaires are not Christians either.
Modernity Hijacked!
Recall, that the devil is a crafty and experienced fallen angel. He locates his demons at critical junctures of human civilization and technological development in order to frustrate humanity’s attempt to fulfill God’s plan of redemption and restoration of humanity to its original relationship with God. The devil lures people away from the path of faith, grace, and righteousness to emphasize religious rituals, and outward demonstration of supernatural power.
Modernity is the self-definition of a generation about its own technological innovation, governance, and socioeconomics. Modern society is conceived as one engaging in organized knowledge and advances that make its immediate predecessors appear antiquated or at least surpassed.
Applied to the church, modernity is reflected in the messaging of contemporary preachers and ministry founders intentionally targetting the young generation of seekers — to their fold. Music, for example, has been used and continues to be used to draw the attention of impressionable church-goers from the Bible-based, spirit-inspired, and life-giving lyrics of the old Hymnals. The focus has shifted from Jesus — his death on the cross, and resurrection (core doctrinal teaching of the church) to beats, sounds, and physical gymnastics of the senses.
Before our own eyes, the church has been hijacked by individuals and turned into a private business enterprise like other secular profit-making ventures.
Getting Back to the Basics.
The way forward is like choosing between Life and Death. Either to get back to the basics of apostolic teaching or stubbornly continue on the self-destructive path — championed and perpetuated by fallen Lucifer and his cohorts. It is spiritual warfare!
Acts 2:42–47 points the way:
“And they (early converts) continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking bread, and in prayers.”
In other words, the early church was resolute, firm, and unwavering in the spiritual disciplines that blessed their lives in the community.
The apostle Paul caps it with these words:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord, Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3: 16–17).
