THE CHOICES OF LIFE

THE CHOICES OF LIFE

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth with everything in it. Then He made man in His own image and, because of His love and His desire to have man love Him, He gave man self-will. Man from the very beginning had his own will, and one day he chose to disobey God's command. The image of God in man was destroyed and death was the debt owed by every man. God still loved man so much that He made His one and only son pay that price to redeem mankind (John 3:16). The price was paid in full as Christ said, 'it is finished' (John 19:19). Everyday we are faced with situations that allow us to make decisions between God and Satan, righteousness and sin, light and darkness, right or wrong, life or death. The decision is ours but God as a loving Father says, “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

We are what and where we are today because of the choices or decisions we made in the past. The decisions may have been easy or difficult, right or wrong, and big or small but they make us today. Even the smallest of these choices has lasting influence in your life and the lives of those around you, even your descendants. It would be very hard and time consuming for you to give serious attention to each and every decision even the small ones, though a person's character is mostly built on the small decisions he makes each and every day. I think we can all agree that we ought to be in a messier situation knowing that the small little decisions we made counted the most, but God is very gracious.

There is need that we make the right decisions but this will require much thinking time. If it will take you hours in order to make the decision to smile at someone then you will never get to live life and preach the gospel. The only way that you can seriously live a life that draws you closer to God and being able to make the right decision as fast as you want is by mediating on God's word and never departing from it (Joshua 1:8, Psalms 1:1-4). When you mediate on God's word you bring His own nature into you. It is that nature that prospers when it becomes fresh in you. When you have that nature in you, your decisions will be right because they will be influenced by the nature of God and you will not need eternity in order to make them. When you are faced with the devil's wiles you will be able to say unto him, 'it is written' like Jesus did. You do not try to reason with the devil on other grounds because you will not succeed in those areas, he has been at it for ages but the good news is that he can't stand the word of God. The psalmists says I have hidden your words in my heart so that I can not sin, remember God's nature is holy and that nature will not share a temple with sin.

In the Bible there are many examples of people that made a mark in history because of the decisions that they made. People were faced with the same sort of situation but had different everlasting destinies because of their decisions.

The Rich Young ruler was faced with one of the greatest tasks ever, choose between the love of riches and Christ. What and where is your love? If you are greatly in love with something or someone your decisions will be influenced by it. How long did it take for the rich man's face to become downcast when the question was poised to him? The Bible says it was immediately and he went away. Don't think you will always have time for big decisions as this was a very important decision, a decision to follow Christ or riches but he made it in haste. He missed the blessing of a 'hundred forth' ( Mark 10:17-30). There will be situations where you have to make very big decision in haste but this will be influenced by where you have placed your treasure is! In the case of the rich man it was his possessions (Matthew 6:21).

It is simple to make decisions in haste and always turn from the commands of God into the opposite direction like Jonah. The decision will be influenced by where you treasure is, how much of the word of God you have in you and your understanding of He who makes the command. The way we handle commands differs, 'who has said it?' is the question we ask in our heart. Our response will be based on how highly we esteem that person, is it a King, servant, mum or dad, brother or sister, friends etc. You will show more reverence to one and shall obey in haste. I will encourage you brethren that when it comes to the commandments of God you should obey promptly like Peter. You might have many excuses but recognize who it is that is giving it because Peter says, 'Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.' Peter had lot of excuses he could use: he was tired from working all night trying to catch fish, he was a fisherman by profession and had pulled all the tricks but failed. Picture yourself as this fisherman, you are stressed because your toil all night produced nothing and here come this Carpenter to tell you what to do, huh? But Peter didn't see just a Carpenter, he understood that once the word has been sent by God it will not return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). You should be able to come to this state of surrender promptly without even trying to complain because He knows it all. When you make decisions knowing that it is God who commands then you will be able to see His greatness in the world, Peter's could not contain the blessing that poured into his boat, he called friends over for help!
The other important event was the decision that Joseph had to make in Potiphar's house. He had control over all the things in that household apart from the master himself and his wife. The wife of Potiphar planned it so well that there were no other servants in that place (Genesis 39:8-12) and that is what you need to know about the devil, he will always have you cornered with a temptation of some sort and that's the time you need to step up. Now you need to understand that we are not just talking about any woman but the wife of a wealthy man. She was undoubtedly beautiful whether naturally or with cosmetics. You might not have gone through the whole Bible or don't remember much of it in order to base your decisions on the Bible but you could make the right choice like Joseph. He had no access to the Bible then but he was able to make the right decision because the Holy Spirit printed the laws on his heart and in his life. The Bible actually records that Joseph prospered because the Spirit was with him (Hebrews 8:10-12). Once one has surrendered his life to Christ, His Spirit is also invited but you have to learn to listen to Him because He does not impose Himself on any one, He is gentle.

Mark 14:27 ' All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd ,and the sheep will all be scattered.'

All the disciples forsook Jesus as a fulfillment of scripture but I find the actions of two of the disciples very interesting, Peter and Judas. Judas betrayed Christ and went away feeling so much shame and remorse. He, in his own power, tried to make it right by returning the money but that removed nothing from him. He was still greatly troubled and he resorted to suicide. We all know where he ended up! Then there is Peter whom after forsaking Christ with the rest, still followed Him to His trial but nevertheless went ahead and denied Jesus three times in public. This was the one who challenged that he would rather die than forsake Christ. He must have been full of shame and regret too but he chose to weep bitterly and repent of his sin. He was restored to ministry later on. They were nearly in the same situation but had different everlasting destinies because of their decision. No matter how similar events seems but learn from King David who enquired of the Lord and was made victorious at all times.

The Spirit, Word and the reverence of God should help you make the right decisions!