ITS OUR CHOICE

     Greetings in the name of Jesus:



   We have talked about discipleship this week, but it is important to note that our actions are taken either toward God's call to us or in our own will to serve in whatever way comes down to the use of our will to choose.  At the end of everything, the question will be very simply put to us of " WHAT WAS YOUR CHOICE?"

  We are influenced by many things and many people whom we allow to sway our minds and hearts in life.  It is not unusual for someone to get the chance to go on a Mission trip to a different part of our world and find their heart being so tied to the place and people they went to for a week or two that they become compelled to go back and minister to them.  Whenever we are given the chance to see a part of life that we have been shielded from we are bound to come away a changed person in some way.  My own life was changed by my time overseas in the military, and it is something that changed the entire direction of my life; not always for the better, but for God's purpose in my life.

  As I have said in many different ways this week our main reason for being in this life is to choose what we will do with God with the intent of our heart.  While we have been given a limited freedom through the gift of choice.  We can make wise choices or we can make very unwise choices, it all depends on what we have chosen to place at the center of our lives.  In our created soul we already know that the wise choice is that of placing God upon the throne and keeping Him there in our hearts, but we don't see God every moment of every day like we do the things of this world, and we are constantly bombarded by the pitch after pitch on what we should be thinking, wearing, and doing in life to be the best among men, but is that really a choice or is it just another competition?

  Who is the greatest among us then?  Is it the one who genuinely serves others and not self?  All of this becomes the choices we make.  In the quest that we say we are making for discipleship with Christ Jesus, there is always going to be several ways to go.  There are the choices of men, which usually are for self and not God-like is found in  1 Samuel 16:1-13  or the three choices shown to us by 2 Samuel 24:11-17 but they are all choices that we must deal with.  The wise choice is God's will for our lives.  He has set us on a course that He wants for us to take, but we must be discerning about using that gift of choice, and not waste our choices on the not understanding that are designed to fall apart or rot away.

  I like the thought of being able to choose God freely with my whole heart, mind, and soul, and to know that it is the winning choice for me even though I may not have all of the answers.  Our personal quest for answers to this life should continue to draw us closer to the truth because it most certainly draws us closer to God.  I pray for all of you this week that you will find yourself able to discern through the power of God's Spirit what is true and what is deception.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT