“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” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

This is a ludicrous scripture! Who in the right mind would choose death? curses? Duh!!!

Right?

Yet people choose death over life and curses over blessings all the time. All the time. We do so by holding on to things we ought to let go, by going after things we ought not, by choosing what is easy rather than what is right.

I am not sure who wrote this but this summarizes what we’re talking about:

Hate has four letters but so does Love
Enemies has seven letters but so does Friends
Lying has five letters but so does Truth
Cry has three letters but so does Joy
Negativity has ten letters but so does Positivity

Choose life. Choose God’s blessings. You have to make a choice.

Choose life.

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).

John Piper writes, “God gives his people money so that we can use money in a way to show that money is not our God.”

The text today teaches us several things about wealth.

First, God “will increase and enlarge the store of seed.” God will give us more than enough. Why does God give us more than enough to take care of ourselves and our families?

Second, the text tells us that God gives us more than enough so that we “can be generous on every occasion”. God gives us more than enough so that God’s people can be engaged in God impacting the world.

Why doesn’t God just distribute his wealth to others? Because when the church is leading the way in the ministry of compassion and generosity, it “results in thanksgiving to the Lord.”

God is not against God’s people having things. In fact, God is not against God’s people having much. What God is against is when things have us. The plan for God’s people is the tithe. Look, if you need to upgrade your television, go for it. If you need to upgrade your car, go for it. But, make sure you have given God his tithe first. After you have dedicated your tithe to God, go ahead and upgrade your tv or car or laptop or phone or whatever. But the problem arises when you upgrade your things at the expense of God’s tithe.

God is not against you having stuff. God is against stuff having you. Got it?

“When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down” (Exodus 12:23).

Today’s verse comes in the account of the Passover in Egypt. This would be the 10th and the final plague where the destroyer would take the life of every first born son in Egypt. The Israelites were given clear directions about sacrificing the sacrificial lamb. The heads of the households were given specific instructions about placing the blood of the lamb on the door frame of their houses.

On that Passover evening, the destroyer went through the land of Egypt and killed every single first born male in all of Egypt. The only houses that were spared were the houses with the blood of the lamb on the door frames.

The story of the Passover is the story of salvation. The Lord did not check to see if the people inside the houses were worthy. The only thing that the Lord checked for was the blood of the Lamb.

The reality is that no one is worthy to be saved. We are all guilty sinners. The only thing we can do is to accept the plan of salvation that God offers his people – the sacrificial blood of the Lamb.

When we stand in judgment the only thing that God will be checking for is the presence of the blood of the Lamb over our lives.

Friends, are you covered by the blood of the Lamb?