Choose Life and Endure

Moses sets life and death before the people; Jeremiah shows what comes when a nation refuses the way of life; the psalm teaches that our days pass like smoke while God alone endures; and Paul, knowing chains await him, still finishes his course. These are not separate sayings but one witness. God’s command is not far away, nor is obedience impossible. As Tertullian says, “the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, and in your hands, to do it.” Therefore exile is not an accident without meaning, and suffering is not license for sloth. If Jerusalem falls, it is because men would not hear. If Paul suffers, it is because he would hear and obey to the end.

The psalmist groans under frailty, yet he does not trust in frailty. Heaven and earth wear out; kingdoms rise and are broken; even our own strength dries up. But God remains, and His servants remain with Him. So repentance must be plain and active: return, obey, watch over the flock entrusted to you, and hold your possessions lightly. Paul did not count his life as precious in comparison with finishing the ministry he had received. As Chrysostom says, “But none of these things move me Acts 20:24: for do not suppose that I say these things as lamenting them: for I hold not my own life dear.”

Let us then choose life not by speech alone, but by steadfast deeds: prayer in trouble, repentance after sin, alms instead of hoarding, vigilance instead of ease, and endurance when obedience becomes costly. The God who outlasts the garment of the world will remember those who keep His word.