I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
The danger of spirituality is not knowing if it is authentic spirituality. Authentic, Biblical spirituality, takes the words of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and then sets out to literally apply them to our lives. In the case of Deut 30:19, when God told His people to choose life, He meant it literally. God wasn't asking for mental assent or correct knowledge. It wasn't that He was looking for the Israelites to agree, memorize and then parrot the words back to Him. God, quite literally, set life and death before them and told them that they had to literally go to work every day, in every situation, and choose life. False spirituality is satisfied to read, to know, and even to teach God's commands, without taking them literally and applying them to own own lives. It was this kind of spirituality that Jesus blasted the scribes and pharisees for having. Jesus told those following Him that it was the wise man, who after hearing Jesus' sayings, went to work to build his entire life upon them. To do otherwise, Jesus said, is as useful as building a house upon sand. That house may look good, and the average person might never be able to tell the differences between it and the house next door that was built on a foundation of rock, but those differences will soon be as clear as day when the black clouds of a significant storm bring damaging winds and pounding waves.
Authentic spirituality is hard work. It requires love that is willing to pay the costs attached to discipline and determination. And anyone who has decided to practice authentic, Biblically spirituality, knows this very well.
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