And to this people, you shall say, “Thus says the Lord. Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
– Jeremiah 21:8
This is God speaking to Jeremiah, telling him what to say to his people, and he makes it really clear. And we’ve seen this language at different points in the Old Testament. Think about Deuteronomy. Today, I set before you life and death. Choose life. And it’s the same message God is giving Jeremiah to proclaim. I set before you two ways, no middle way, two ways. A way of life and a way of death.
Jeremiah 21:8 calls us to die to sin.
And as you hear this verse, Jeremiah 21:8, I just want to encourage you to think in two directions. One, this is God speaking to you today and me. Every day, we have a way of life before us that involves dying to ourselves and dying to sin and living according to the Word of God in alignment with the Spirit of God. This is life for us every day. And we are tempted, at the same time, to choose death, to choose sin, to choose self, to choose to trust in ourself more than trusting in God, to turn to what we think is best instead of trusting what he says is best.
So hear God saying in Jeremiah 21:8 to you today, “Choose life.” Choose life in Christ and all that it involves today. Die to yourself and live in Him.
Jeremiah 21:8 reminds us to be faithful stewards of the gospel message.
And then just consider how Jeremiah was entrusted with this message to share to others. And so you and I see people around us today. Think about other followers of Jesus that you’ll interact with today. Encourage them to choose life and thrive in the way Jesus has invited us to thrive in our lives according to His Word. Encourage one another toward that end today.
And when it comes to unbelieving friends, family members that are on a road that leads to eternal death and are separated from the Lord of life right now, encourage them to choose life. Share with them Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And be God’s mouthpiece today for other people to experience life according to God’s invitation.
Oh God, we pray this in our lives. We pray you to help us to die to our sin and ourselves today, to in a fresh way confess we do not know what is best. You know what is best. And we want to follow your ways, not our ways. Help us to choose life in you in every way today. And all day today, lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil that we might live to the full today according to your Word with your strength, according to your commands with your help.
And God, we pray that you would help us to be faithful mouthpieces of your Word, to encourage other people to choose life today, to follow you, to trust you, to pursue you, to walk by faith in you. God, we pray that you would help us to turn people away from the way of death and to experience life in you, to grow in life in you. For our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for friends, family members who don’t know you, people we just so happen to meet today who don’t know you, God help us to point them to life in you.
Prayer for the Yaeyama People
And God, we pray the same for the Yaeyama people of Japan. For 45,000 Yaeyama men, women, children. God, that the gospel would spread to them, that they might experience life in you. Jesus, please oh God, save the Yaeyama people of Japan.
We pray all this according to your Word and we praise you for it. We praise you for revealing the way of life to us. Help us to walk in it today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
