In my own life, I have come to recognize that the greatest gift in life is choice. I get to CHOOSE my own font. I get to choose what to wear, what to eat. What ring tone I like. I get to choose to put a photograph in the background of my phone and computer. I get to make so many choices every day. And more than mundane choices, I get to make deep, meaningful, life changing choices.
Even though there are many elements in my life over which I have had no control, I have been given what Pastor Rick Warren calls the trump card in the poker game of life: CHOICE. And I don't say this at all in a place of a victim. As a Reconciliation Studies major I am VERY aware that I have been given opportunities, health, and freedoms that many people throughout the world could never fathom. I have been born into a country of great freedom, a body of great health, a generation of great hope and power, and a family of great love. And I am blessed. Yes this past year has presented challenging struggles, however I have been empowered through my trump card- choice. Watch this incredible story.
The way God designed it is for choice. He has given us the gift of free will. He has given us the gift of choice. I have heard it said, "God is a gentleman. He will not force Himself on you." We get to choose. The power of life and death is in the tongue. We can choose life or death by the words we allow to come out of our mouth. Our thoughts effect our words- words habits- habits actions- actions character- character identity. It all comes back to choice.
When I don't choose to eat healthy, I default to choosing processed junk.
When I don't choose hope, I default to choosing to give up.
When I don't choose peace, I default to choosing anxiety.
When I don't choose forgiveness, I default to choosing bitterness.
When I don't choose generosity, I default to choosing selfishness.
When I don't choose to be positive, I default to choosing to be negative.
When I don't choose obedience, I default to choosing sin.
When I don't choose God, I default to choosing Satan.
When I don't choose life, I default to choosing death.
The challenge of choice is this very fine line that I often have to walk on my tip toes. I want God to get all of the glory for the changes in me, but I am convinced that my choices have been a part of this process. I can look back and see how far God has brought me. I have changed. In incredible and miraculous ways that can only be explained through HIM. I am not taking credit for these changes by saying they are a product of my choices. God is a miracle maker and I have nothing to do with that miracle making process. He initiated relationship with me. Ephesians 2:1-9 says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with HIm in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that is not of yourself, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
I will repeat. He initiated relationship with me. He reached out and invited me into relationship. I do not boast in my relationship with Him or what God has done in my life, thinking it is because of me.
Yet I do understand choice. And I did choose to open myself. I did choose to ask. I did choose to listen. And that has been an important part of the change. It is like growing a garden. ONLY God can make a way for that stem to push through the dirt, but a gardener does have a role. To prepare and plant and water and weed. Can the gardner perform the miracle? No. Never. But the gardener can create a space for God to work.
In the same way, I know that only God can do the miraculous. But I know that I have a role. And God has brought out some incredible changes in me. Praise Jesus. But I am not done. I am still changing. When the old dies away, new comes. And this is a process. I am much more programmed to choose obedience over sin now than I was 10 years ago when I first gave my life to Christ, but I am still capable of sin unless I make a conscious choice to obey God. Every day. I wake up every day and die to my flesh. This is a daily choice. And some days I do not make that choice and it is kind of awful. Accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior did not change me overnight. It will continue to be a refining and sanctifying process. And I will have to continue to choose day in and day out. To choose life over death.
Choose life. I urge you to choose life. Don't depend on default. Don't depend on your natural state to lead you I URGE you today to CHOOSE LIFE. Choose hope. Choose positive thoughts. Choose obedience. Choose health. Choose God. Accept this incredible gift of love that Christ extends to all of His children that He has crafted in a mother's womb. Choose Jesus.
I have learned much this past year about stewardship. I am a steward of all that God has given me: my body, my money, my job, my time, my talents, my attitude, my relationships, my focus.
My latest focus, craving and hope has been for spring. My most constant choice all day today has been to hope for a new and fresh season. To picture spring in my mind. I remember a friend who had an awful winter full of great losses who, at the first sign of dew, had an incredible breakthrough and simply ran outside and threw her body on the wet grass and wept at His faithfulness. Winter has to end. Winter will end. It always does. We never stay in winter. And I am waiting for my moist, green, dewy grass to grow once again.
Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Holding something "unswervingly" (other translations say hold tightly, hold without wavering, grasp firmly) is not for the faint of heart. It is for the warriors. It is for the courageous. It is for the fighters, who acknowledge that this world and the human struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rules and principalities of darkness. (Ephesians 6:12)
I don't think there is any more hopeful truth in the WORLD to me than the reality that we can change. We can choose to change. We can choose to create a new habit. We can choose to dream a new dream. We can choose change. I want to keep saying it because every time I do it amazes me. It makes me want to weep. We can change. We can choose to open ourselves and let God change us. We are not in bondage to our sinful default. We are not in bondage to our unhealthy habits. We are not in bondage to our pain. We are not in bondage to our anger or bitterness. We are not in bondage to our emotions. We can choose to let God change us. I will continue to hold unswervingly to the HOPE that I profess in Jesus Christ. That spring will come. That He will continue to make me new. And that I have the incredible power of choice to receive all of these things.
And, I am thankful I can change my fonts. Whenever I like.
What about your story?
What in your life is coasting on default? Attitude? Reactions? Words? Stewardship choices you make about our body, time, money? I pray that God would empower you through the Holy Spirit to choose HIM. Choose life. Choose grace. Choose peace. Don't depend on default.
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