Deuteronomy 30:19 reminds us that we are constantly faced with a fundamental choice: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, choose life.” This isn’t just about physical existence; it’s about the vitality of every aspect of our lives – relationships, careers, dreams, and desires. Every decision, big or small, leads us either towards thriving or towards decline.
Our Heavenly Father, in His divine wisdom, granted us the invaluable gift of free will. We first witnessed its exercise in the Garden of Eden, where humanity’s choice of disobedience, aligning with Satan, brought about death.
Consider this analogy: Imagine you’re a sought-after footballer, with two teams vying for your talent. Each presents a sealed envelope, one containing “life,” the other “death.” You’re unaware of the contents, so you must rely on the persuasive pitches of their representatives and your intuition to make a choice. This mirrors our daily lives. We consistently find ourselves in figurative negotiation rooms, making choices that shape our destiny. No one knowingly chooses death; rather, we often do so out of ignorance. As Hosea 4:6 states, God’s people “are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”
Every negative experience in our lives can be traced back to a choice we made or that was made on our behalf. For instance, being in an abusive marriage that drains your joy and will to live stems from the initial decision to date or marry that person, or the choice to remain when you should have left. Each decision steers us towards either the life or death of something important. Our arrogance often leads us to believe we can rely solely on our own intelligence to make these crucial choices.
Satan’s sole superpower, employed since the beginning of time, is deception. He is a masterful liar, and his aim is to impair our ability to choose life. He operates in this world only with humanity’s permission, a permission first granted by Adam and Eve when they picked the “envelope” he offered them at the garden of Eden. To this day, he is still offering us envelopes and we keep on picking them. 1 Peter 5:8 warns, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
When we face Satan in these “negotiation rooms” without God’s presence, we are destined to make the wrong choice. Our own strength is insufficient to discern his lies from the truth. He is an ancient adversary, skilled in his craft, and we cannot defeat him on our own.Proverbs 3:5-7 advises us “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and shun evil.”
James 4:7 provides the strategy to approach these negotiation rooms: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” This scripture confirms our authority to resist the enemy. We are not helpless prey; rather, we are active enablers in the enemy’s operations within the world and within our personal lives. We possess the power to tell the devil, “No, I don’t want that envelope you are offering; get away from my sight.” However, this requires discernment – the ability to recognize when an offer originates from the devil, for the devil can never offer an envelope containing life. Without discernment, we will continue to make the wrong choices. The scripture also highlights a prerequisite for resisting the devil: we must first submit ourselves to God, drawing near to Him so that He will draw near to us.
In Matthew 16:21-23, Jesus explained to his disciples that he would be killed and resurrected. He was choosing an “envelope” that contained life, despite its pitch involving physical death. To those lacking discernment, this seemed like a terrible choice. This passage offers profound insights. Jesus, holding the “envelope” of his sacrifice, knew it contained eternal and abundant life for all believers. His confidence in choosing it stemmed from this deep understanding, even though on the surface it appeared he was choosing death.
To someone without Jesus’s knowledge, the choice was daunting. Peter, seeing only the immediate consequence of death, probably worried about the fate of Jesus’s ministry and kingdom. Satan exploited Peter’s concerns, using him to make a counter-pitch. Jesus, seeing through Peter’s intentions to the devil’s influence, reacted exactly as we should: He assertively rejected the devil. This proves that even without their awareness, or genuinely believing they are acting in our best interests, individuals in our lives can be influenced by the devil to offer us the wrong ‘envelope’. This underscores the importance of prioritizing the Holy Spirit’s guidance over the counsel of those around us.
Jesus lived a powerful life, walking in authority, confidence, knowledge, and wisdom. He spoke with such power and assertiveness that nature, demons, and people obeyed him. He was unintimidated by anything or anyone and possessed profound discernment to reject the devil. Jesus desires us to live similarly: unafraid, unintimidated, and unbothered. However, he also knew that attempting this by our own strength is futile, leading to arrogance rather than true power. Yet, he paved the way for us to walk in the same authority. First, Jesus constantly prayed, prioritizing time with the Father. If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we? Second, Jesus understood our need for help to consistently choose the right “envelope” and resist the devil. He recognized that we required assistance to emulate his way of walking, talking, thinking, and acting.
In John 14:15-18, Jesus promised: “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” Jesus recognized the challenges we face and, having shown us how to overcome them, knew we couldn’t do it alone. The enemy constantly whispers convincing lies that influence our decisions, leading us astray even when we strive for the best.
When we turn to God, He bestows upon us His Holy Spirit, who brings with Him gifts and fruits like knowledge, understanding, discernment, and self-control. These are the essential tools needed to recognize the enemy and powerfully reject him. Jesus, while on Earth, walked as God in the flesh, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He consistently chose life with every word and action, even when it appeared he was choosing physical death. His death on the cross, as stated in John 10:10, ultimately brought life to humanity.
The Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, resides within believers. He is the essential help we need in every negotiation room. However, despite His presence, we often choose the wrong “envelope” because we haven’t developed the ability to hear Him. We haven’t spent enough time with Him, allowing Satan’s voice to remain louder in our lives. Every wrong choice grieves the Holy Spirit within us.
The more we listen, the more we will hear, and the more we hear, the more we will discern His voice. By studying God’s word and inviting Him to help us understand it, by praying for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, by spending time in silence, and by seeking His help to keep God’s greatest commandments (love for God and others), we open ourselves to His voice. As the Spirit of truth, He counters the enemy’s lies with divine truth, rendering them ineffective.
The “envelopes” we pick are in the form of the thoughts we entertain, the words we speak, the feelings we choose to feel, and the actions we take. Each of these choices contains either life or death. To live a powerful life, we must learn, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to discern which thoughts, words, actions, or feelings will lead us down the path of life. Many times we are unaware that a thought we ponder, an action we take, a word we speak, a feeling we engage is an envelope containing death.
Consider the footballer presented earlier. Two team representatives are making pitches, one offering an envelope containing death (Satan) and the other, life (the Holy Spirit). Since the footballer is unaware of the contents, he must rely on the representatives’ words. If he cannot recognize or hear the Holy Spirit’s voice, he is more likely to choose Satan’s offer. This is because Satan is loud, we are conditioned to hear him from early childhood, and he can be very convincing.
In conclusion, we desperately need the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, words, feelings, and actions every moment of our lives. We cannot, by our own understanding, distinguish the “envelope” of death from the “envelope” of life. But the Spirit of truth, residing within us, knows and teaches all things. By learning to hear and discern His voice, Satan’s lies lose their power over us. The Spirit empowers us with truth and guides us to always choose the right “envelope.” every time. Choose Life! All the best!
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