God wants you to live!

Ezekiel 18, The Message, has these verses in it:
At the beginning of the chapter: "Every soul—man, woman, child—belongs to me, parent and child alike. You die for your own sin, not another's."
Then at the end: "The upshot is this, Israel: I'll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won't drag you down. Clean house. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart! Get a new spirit! Why would you choose to die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone's death. Decree of God, the Master.
"Make a clean break! Live!"
This passage really spoke to me yesterday morning. If you read all of Ezekiel 18, it seems that the Israelites were whining and cursing God for their lot. However, if you read into ancient Israelite history at that time, through the books of the Bible, you will quickly notice that God gave them commandments which would lead to life and declared that disobedience would lead to death and destruction.
One thing I notice is that the Israelites were quick to blame others for their misery, rather than understanding that God had made it really clear to them. Obedience, life. Disobedience, death, misery, and destruction. It was that easy, but of course it couldn't be THEIR fault they were miserable!
How does this apply to us today! Many people will quickly say that we live under a new covenant that says that life in Jesus will do the same as obedience so that if we accept Jesus we will live. They are right, to an extent.
What is wrong with this is that it is not complete. Accepting Jesus as Savior means claiming Jesus as Lord. We have to let Jesus's life change us. He wants us to still obey God. There is certainly not any part of our salvation we can earn, but if we stop at salvation and don't go on to obedience, we also lose out not only on the life God promises, but on any change occurring in our lives.
We must allow the salvation we accepted in Jesus to permeate our lives so that we are different. We must allow the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to have access to the deep resources of our lives so that God sees our obedience.
I think that what God said to the Israelites through Ezekiel is true for us today. In Christian circles, there is a lot of murmuring and heartache and I believe that God does still NOT take pleasure in our death (or anyone's who is not a believer). We can love Jesus but live miserably.
How do our current states of mind lend themselves to change by the Holy Spirit? Do you know that God desires LIFE for you, and not death, destruction, and misery?