Choose Life — TDW Kids

The Word Is Near You

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At the end of his sermons, Moses told Israel that God's word was not hidden or far away. Many years later, Paul said the same thing about the good news of Jesus.

Not too hard. “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off” (Deuteronomy 30:11).

Not up in heaven. Moses said no one needed to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us?” (30:12). God had already spoken. He did not make His people search for His will.

Not across the sea. No one needed to sail far away to find it (30:13). God's word had come to them. He brought it close so they could obey it.

Very near. “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (30:14). Knowing God's word is meant to lead to doing it.

Two roads. “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil” (30:15). Moses showed them a choice. Every person has to decide which way to go.

Choose life. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life” (30:19).

He is your life. Choose life “that you may cling to Him, for He is your life” (30:20). Cling means hold on tight. Life is found by staying close to God Himself.

Paul's good news. Paul wrote, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach)” (Romans 10:8). Paul saw that Moses' words point to the good news about Jesus.

What the word says. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). That is the word that is near to everyone.

Jesus is life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the life Moses talked about.

Life forever. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36). Everlasting means it never ends.

Joshua's choice. Years later Joshua said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Joshua chose to serve the Lord with his whole family.

What to do. This week, tell God in your own words, I choose You. Then hold on tight to Jesus every day.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 is Moses' final appeal before the covenant is written down. Paul later used these same words to explain the gospel.

Accessible (30:11). The command is not “too mysterious,” literally not too wonderful or hard. God has made His will known. Israel could not claim that they did not know.

Heaven and sea (30:12-13). These were the farthest places anyone could imagine. No one has to go on a heroic quest to find God's word. God makes Himself known as a gift; no one finds Him by their own effort.

Mouth and heart (30:14). The word is spoken and believed. It is meant to be both confessed and loved. Mouth and heart together describe a whole-person response.

Two ways (30:15-18). Life and good, death and evil. Psalm 1 and Jesus' words about the narrow and wide roads (Matthew 7:13-14) teach the same truth: life with God is a path we choose and then walk.

Witnesses (30:19). Heaven and earth are summoned, as in ancient treaties, to witness the covenant choice. That made the decision public and binding.

Life defined (30:20). Life is to love God, obey His voice and cling to Him. The Hebrew dabaq (say: dah-BAHK), cling, is also used of a husband holding to his wife (Genesis 2:24). Covenant loyalty is pictured as faithful, close love.

Romans 10:6-9. Paul contrasts “the righteousness of faith” with law-keeping. No one must bring Christ down from heaven or up from the dead; He has come and risen. What Moses' hearers could not do, God has done in Christ.

Confession and faith. “Confess with your mouth… believe in your heart” matches Moses' “in your mouth and in your heart.” Faith is inward trust that shows itself in open confession.

John 14:6. Jesus claims to be the life that Moses pointed to. Moses said God is your life; Jesus says, I am the life.

John 3:36. Belief in the Son brings everlasting life; unbelief remains under God's wrath. The two ways are still set before every person. Trusting Jesus or turning from Him is the choice that decides everything.

Joshua 24:15. Joshua renews Moses' call at Shechem, showing that each generation must choose. Faith cannot be inherited automatically; it must be embraced.

A realistic hope. Moses expected Israel to fail (31:16-21) yet promised heart change (30:6). Choosing life ultimately rests on God's grace. God both calls for the choice and gives the heart to make it.

Application. Choosing life today means trusting Jesus and holding on to Him each day. The word being near is good news: you do not have to climb to heaven or cross the sea to find God, because He has come close to you in Christ.

No More Curse

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The Bible tells a big story about curses and blessings. It begins in a garden, runs through Deuteronomy and the cross, and ends in a city where there is no curse at all.

Where it began. After Adam disobeyed, God said, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17). Toil means hard work. Sin spoiled the good world God had made.

The covenant warning. “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them” (Deuteronomy 27:26). All the people answered, Amen.

All of it. Paul explained, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law” (Galatians 3:10). Nobody can keep it all. Even one broken command is enough to bring the curse.

A strange law. Deuteronomy said, “He who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). It seemed like just a rule about burial. But God had a bigger plan hidden in it.

Jesus on the tree. But Paul saw the cross in it: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

He carried our sins. Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He carried what we could never carry.

Nailed to the cross. God took the record against us and “nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The list of everything we owed is gone.

No condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Condemnation means being judged guilty. In Jesus, the verdict is not guilty.

He came to give life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life” (John 10:10). He gives life that is full and lasts forever.

Blessed people. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). Blessing comes from listening to God and obeying Him.

Like a tree. The one who trusts the Lord “shall be like a tree planted by the waters” (Jeremiah 17:8). Its leaves stay green even when the weather is hot.

The end of the story. “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it” (Revelation 22:3). God's people will serve Him and see His face.

What to do. This week, thank Jesus for taking the curse. Draw a cross and write under it, No more curse!

The blessings and curses of Deuteronomy are part of the Bible's big story. The curse began in Eden, Christ carried it at the cross, and in the new creation it will be gone forever.

Genesis 3:17. Sin brought a curse on the ground and on human labor. The first curse followed the first disobedience, and the whole world has felt it ever since.

Genesis 12:3. God answered with blessing: through Abraham “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Blessing is God's purpose. The curse is never God's last word.

Deuteronomy 27:26. The Shechem ceremony ended with the people saying “Amen” to a curse on any who fail to keep the law. Israel bound itself to the covenant with open eyes.

Galatians 3:10. Paul argues that relying on law-keeping places a person under that curse, because no one keeps it fully. The problem is not the law but the human heart.

Deuteronomy 21:23. A body hung on a tree was a sign of God's curse. Crucifixion fit that description. For first-century Jews, a crucified Messiah seemed a contradiction.

Galatians 3:13. Christ became “a curse for us.” He took the covenant curse in the place of His people. This is substitution: the innocent for the guilty.

1 Peter 2:24. Peter uses the same tree language: He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Like Paul, Peter saw the cross as the place where Jesus carried the curse for us.

Colossians 2:14. The “handwriting of requirements” was a record of debt. God canceled it at the cross. Paul pictures a debt notice nailed up as paid.

Romans 8:1. “No condemnation” is the gospel reversal of the covenant curse. Those in Christ stand where the blessing falls.

Psalm 1; Jeremiah 17:7-8. The tree planted by water pictures the blessed life of trust. Its roots reach water even in drought.

Revelation 22:3. The Bible ends with the curse removed and God's throne among His people. The garden's curse is undone in the city of God.

For today. Christians still face hardship, but not God's curse. Suffering in Christ is never condemnation. God may discipline His children, but He never curses them.

Application. Because Jesus took the curse, guilt and failure do not have the last word. When you fail, confess it to God and remember that in Christ there is no condemnation.

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