Friday, December 4, 2015
See VIDEO here
For I fully expect and hope that I will never be
ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the
past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ,
whether I live or die. For
to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do
more fruitful work for Christ. So I really
don’t know which is better. I’m
torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far
better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to
live. Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive
so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. Philippians
1:20-25 (NLT)
If
you’ve lived longer than twelve minutes as a human being you understand the
conundrum of being torn between two choices.
In this life you’re facing a choice, choosing,
or dealing
with the consequences of your choices.
And
choices always have consequences. Adam
and Eve made a choice that not only affected them, but has affected every other
human being since. Judas made a choice
he regretted all the way to despair.
Christopher Columbus made a decision to go “all-in” when he left the “Old
World” in search of the new. Living in
America is a consequence for me, of a choice Columbus made 500 years ago.
Paul
the apostle was under house arrest for being a Christian. He was torn between the choice to press his
legal issues and perhaps be executed, or dial back his case and maybe get
released so he could continue his missionary work.
What to do…what to do?
Paul
knew what he wanted to do; he was tired and had been fighting the
good fight for years – he wanted to go home to be
with Christ. But the ultimate help factor
in Paul’s choosing came into play when he released his want and chose to think
with the mind of Christ; he said: But for
your sakes…. That is
what Jesus did when he came to die for us.
It would have been much more desirable for Jesus to stay with the Father
in heaven; but for our sakes….
So, what decisions are you facing? And HOW will you decide?
Depending
on who you ask, you can find a wide variety of methodology for choice
management. For instance, when choosing
where to live, some will advise you to look for an affordable house near your
kid’s schools. You might get a heads-up
on what the taxes are in that district, or the crime rate, or availability of
medical services.
Choosing
whether to marry might be settled by what E-Harmony™ says about your
match. Choosing a career might be
influenced by salary, perks and retirement plan. Choosing to have, or not have children…choosing
a car, a pet, an aftershave, a hairstyle, a waffle iron…choosing, choosing, choosing…what is a person to do?
Have
you thought about asking God?
Really!
You see,
when faced with a life-choice, there isn’t a thing wrong with googling the
subject and looking for advice; but, in making life-decisions, shouldn’t the priority
(for a Christian) be Kingdom-centered?
Shouldn’t the mind of Christ be our first desire?
Doesn’t
it make sense that, following the example of Paul, we should articulate the
choices (for the apostle it was life continued in ministry for the sake of
others…or death and getting to be with Jesus), and then ask Christ to place in
our hearts the greater desire for what pleases Him?
For You Today
You
will have choices today beyond eggs or cereal for breakfast. In those choices there may be a “New World”
versus an “Old World”. But, big choices
or small, there are always consequences to all of the choices you’ll make.
Getting
God in on the decision is what a person will do when he or she has surrendered to
the Lordship of Christ.
A
surrendered life makes choices to honor the King.
No comments:
Post a Comment