The question of conscience is one that we face time and time again in our lives – what about the person who finds £100 lying on the road – do you pick it up and take it home, or do you take it to the police and hand it in ? What about the little bit of gossip that you hear – do you keep it quiet or do you share it ? What about the wrong that you know someone has done – do you confront them or tell someone or do you decide it’s best to mind your own business ?
I once read a small boy’s definition of conscience – that is ‘something that makes you tell your mum you’ve done something wrong before your sister does’ ! Conscience is about choice – do we follow what’s good and right or do we follow the easy path ? Do we follow what we know to be just however hard it may be or do we turn a blind eye to an injustice ?
Day after day we are faced with challenges as to how we live – and in the Book of Deuteronomy we hear some heartfelt words of Moses – he is preparing for handing over leadership of his people to Joshua and knowing that time is coming very near he pleads with them in the words we heard today (Deut.30:15-20).
And the pleas he makes are about what is really important in lives – what things in their consciences those people need to address. He calls on them to choose life and prosperity rather than death and adversity. It sounds an easy choice to make, but in reality it isn’t because prosperity and adversity are not measured in the terms we might measure them in…
When I think of prosperity I think of lots of money, a nice house, a good car, lots of luxury holidays and so on, and adversity is the opposite – no money, no real possessions, life is a day to day struggle…
Moses talks about people doing right being prosperous – people who obey God’s commandments, people who don’t just pay heed to them but follow them in the way they live. And we would probably all hope to be in that category, but again it often isn’t as easy as that.
Just as prosperity and adversity are not easily measured in human terms, neither is what is right and what is wrong… Doing right all the time will mean a difficult life occasionally… Doing right all the time will mean some people won’t like us… Doing right all the time will often alienate friends who might choose a quiet life, or an easy option.
Jesus was the perfect example of someone who did right all the time – in his earthly ministry he went about meeting people, encouraging them, healing them, defending them. He spoke up for those who were being treated badly, he spoke up for those who didn’t have a voice in society. He offered his life as an example of what love really means…
And in human terms, certainly in 21st century terms, he couldn’t be described as having a life of prosperity – and yet he obviously had everything… He had life in all its fullness. And that’s what he is offering for all people.
In the reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians (3:1-9) Paul also calls for people to consider their priorities. As in many churches from time to time there was some division – people were following different factions, and Paul reminded them that it was not him orApollos or anyone else that they should be following – but Jesus.
Priorities were being challenged again – and for us they are regularly challenged too when we have to make choices.
Life is full of choices and the biggest we can make is whether to choose life itself… Life in God’s terms is not made by the amount of things we own, or how popular we are, but it is in relationships. Life is fulfilled in seeking to do what’s right for as many people as we can. Life is about serving others and offering them hope and strength and peace and encouragement and healing, and it’s in doing those things that we can find true peace ourselves.
Many people think that doing right means keeping to all kinds of rules and regulations. God has offered us the wonderful gift of freewill because he wants us to truly understand love. He wants us to know how it feels to care for someone and be cared for. That is the gift of life that he offers… Choose life and prosperity means to choose the way of knowing that we live, secure in his love and care, and that we live as part of a huge family of humanity, a family we will constantly seek the best for…
The late Anglican Priest David Watson wrote in his book ‘Discipleship’ about choice – he wrote, ‘The Christian church today suffers from large numbers of people who feel that they have made a ‘decision for Christ’, or from those who think they have chosen to join a certain church’. He continued, ‘Such man-centred notions spell spiritual death or at least barren sterility… It is only when we begin to see ourselves as chosen, called and commissioned by Christ that we shall have any real sense of our responsibility to present ourselves to him ‘as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.’
It’s a long quote but it sums up the choice we make for Christ – it is not simply to be for him or against, to follow him or not, but to recognise his love for us and the fact that he is calling us into a closer relationship with him.
When Moses appealed to his people to choose life and prosperity he knew that he faced the end of his earthly life, and he knew there was no more important choice than to choose to recognise God’s hand upon our lives and to respond to his love.
Our choice in life is very simple – it is not to opt for a simple life, but to opt for the only choice that offers life and true prosperity…
To finish I’ll read some more verses from the wonderful psalm 139, taken from the Message Bible :
God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too - your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful - I can't take it all in!
Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, You'd find me in a minute - you're already there waiting!
….I thank you, God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvellously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! AMEN
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