Scholarship: Life or Death

Ready:

"...I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him." - Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

Set

University of Memphis track athlete Cassandra Harding didn't give a second thought to signing a document stating she could lose her scholarship if she became pregnant because, "I wasn't going to get pregnant." But she did. When asked what role the fear of losing a scholarship played in a decision to have an abortion or not, another female athlete said, "On a scale from 1 to 10, it was like a 9. It had a big, big part in my decision; because that's the first thing I thought about, I'm losing my scholarship."

We have come to the place in our society where choosing between a college scholarship and the life of a child is a tough decision. Why is that? First, I believe it's because we have bought into the lie that an unborn child is not a person. Read Psalm 139:13-16 and see what God thinks of the unborn child. Second, we don't like to accept the consequences of our actions. We want to be able to do whatever we want to do without having to reap any hardship for our choices. But according to the Bible that is not the way things work (see Galatians 6:7-8).

There are consequences to destructive actions. For example, sex outside of marriage has been known to cause unwanted pregnancies. This is not groundbreaking information. David's destructive actions in 2 Samuel 11 wreaked havoc on his family for many years.

We have a choice to make today. Life and death, good and evil are set before us. What will we choose? May we heed the instructions Moses gave the people of Israel by choosing life through our love for and obedience to the Lord.

1. What is the toughest decision you have had to make as a competitor? Was it the right decision? Why or why not?

2. What are the top three things you rely on most heavily when making decisions? Why?

Workout

Deuteronomy 30:1-20

2 Kings 18:1-8

John 5:24-30

Overtime

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

- Joshua 24:15 (NIV)