I am a memory collector. Not only do I take way too many pictures for all my scrapbooks, but I also grew up collecting souvenirs. You wouldn't believe that things I have stored away in the crawlspaces and attics of our house. Just ask my parents - it's all in their attic too! Somewhere along the way I changed a little though. Instead of collecting things, I started to find a way to hold onto that memory in a more purposeful way. A piece of furniture or art to add to my house from one of my missions trips. An ornament to remember a special place visited or memories made with people I love. A book that represents that memory but that can also be shared with my kids. I love making memories but now I also appreciate finding ways to keep remembering by collecting things that will blend into my every day life, I'm done with collecting the stuff that just ends up collecting dust (and someday I will find a way to get rid of all that all stuff, because that's all it is. Stuff. It's nice to remember those memories when I pull that stuff out. But wouldn't it be greater to just remember in the consciousness of life all around me. Wouldn't it be nice if I was living in such a way that I am always aware of those things worth remembering? Please open your Bible and read Deuteronomy 27 or just click here.
There are two mountains we are dealing with here. Mount Ebal was the mountain for curses and Mount Gerizim was the mountain for blessings. Moses explains that when they cross the river Jordan and enter the land God is giving them, they are to set up large stones on Mount Ebal and also build and altar made of stones. They are to sacrifice burnt offerings and also "Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up." (v.7-8) Then the Levite Priests presented the curses before the people on this Mount Ebal and the people responded with an "Amen."
This is all so interesting to me. First, God chooses to put the stones to help them remember the law on the mountain used to proclaim the curses. When they saw these stones they would remember everything God had commanded and the promises He had made with them. But they would also remember that they made a commitment NOT to let these curses fall upon their lives. When they said "Amen" they proclaimed "so be it" and were choosing to live righteous lives before God. I also just love the fact that there are two mountains. There is a great distinction between the blessings and the curses. You can choose this way or you can choose that. You can pick the blessings or you can pick the curses. I also appreciate that He starts with the curses because I believe He wants to put the bad out there first and wrap up with the good, reminding them that He really wants them to choose the blessings - that this is always His desire first. But God also always let's us choose (without getting into a great philosophical rant here I also must say I believe that since He is omniscient He also knows what we will end up choosing before we even do because He created us and He knows us...but we still get freewill to choose). We get to decide if we are going to remember these stones that contain the words of the laws He gave to His people to obey. We get to choose if we are going to act out what we remember. Will we choose to follow God's laws? Let us not overlook the time of sacrifice they had on that mountain. God had them create an altar made of these same stones and offer sacrifices there. They had a great time of fellowship with the Lord, praising Him for all He had done and for Who He was. They were actually "rejoicing in the presence of the Lord" when they were on that mountain. Now remember, Jesus enters the picture for us today. We will never be good enough. We can never earn our blessings or our righteousness. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no man can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-10. Today we remember these stones full of God's laws and the mountains which proclaimed blessings and curses. But we are also thankful because God made a way through Jesus so that we no longer need to live under the law because He fulfilled the law. He became the sacrifice for all of us. And we remember that Jesus makes all things new.
II Corinthians 3:2-6, Paul says, "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
So, today we learn from these stones and let the very law of God, fulfilled through the life and death of Jesus Christ, become the tablets of stone written on our hearts. May we be the reminder of what God has done in and through us. Today, I remember that my life is a letter. What does it say? Does it say that I am trusting God to grow me and change me from the inside out? Does it say that I know longer let my struggles control the way I live my life? Does it say that I am marked and sealed by the blood of Christ, and through His strength I will choose the blessings and not the curses? Today I want my story to show the incredible power of CHRIST IN ME. I will choose to remember where I have been but also remember that wherever I am going will be okay as long as I am walking with the Lord.
Father, help me to continue to remember the amazing blessings You have given me. I am thankful for the good times and the bad, the struggles and the victories, the joys and the pain, because it is my complete story that has made me the woman I am today. Help me remember to choose You daily and to know that is is CHRIST IN ME that allows me to choose to walk in the better way. Let my life be a living letter that reflects who You are in me and help me to remember the past so I can learn in the past and grow into the beautiful future and destiny you have for me. I know it will not always be easy and often quite messy, but thank You for never letter me walk alone. I love you, Lord. Amen
Now Choose Life.
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