Choices

Choices. We all have them, even when we feel that we don't and we make hundreds of them every day. Some choices are simple, even mundane and others are life changing. Some that we feel won't make a difference in our life are actually the big ones in disguise. It probably doesn't matter if you have a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch or an egg salad one. That's a simple, every day choice. Where you choose to live or who you will marry are obviously bigger choices. But what about that random person you bump into at the bank or grocery store, you have a choice how you will react to them. Will you smile and say excuse me or will you grumble and go on with your day? It probably doesn't seem like much of a life changing choice to you, but it can be to that person. 


Every one of us are responsible for our own actions and reactions to the choices we make in our life. And with every choice comes consequences which will effect our life for the better or will cause our life to be miserable. Think about Eve, she had a choice. Should she believe God or the serpent? She chose to believe the serpent, Satan, and her choice changed mankind. Think about Rahab, the harlot, she chose to hide the Israelite spies and believe in their God and her choice not only saved her and her family but put her in the genealogy of Christ! Think about Ruth, she chose to turn her back on her homeland and her gods to follow her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem and accept Naomi's God as her own. Her choice to do so gave her a husband (Boaz) and a son and made her a great-grandmother of King David and an ancestress of Jesus.


We all have choices to make. I once asked a mother why she didn't bring her children to Sunday School and her response was 'I'll let them make that choice when they're older'. By saying that this mother was making a choice not to take her children to hear the Word of God. What if we, as mothers, made all of the decisions concerning our children in that way? What if we never introduced them to vegetables or fruit and we said 'I'll let them make the decision to eat healthy when they're older'? What if we never got them immunizations and said 'they can make the choice to protect their bodies against diseases when they're older'? What about school? Should children have a choice to go to school or not?


 Of course not. There are some choices that parents need to make for their children because they are too young to do so for themselves. They don't know what is best for themselves. So we make them eat vegetables and fruit. We take them to the doctor for check ups and immunizations and we make them go to school or be home schooled. Just like those important choices need to be made for our children, we must also choose to raise them to know God. 


Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6


Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11:19


We all have a choice to make that is above all other choices that we will be faced with during our life. We have to choose whether we will serve the Lord or not. Ignoring the choice doesn't make it go away. Using excuses doesn't either. We all have a choice. 


 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve;...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15


What will you choose today? Will you choose to serve the Lord and put your trust in Him? I pray that you will and I pray that you will teach the Lord's Word to your children so that your life would be blessed and that you will have eternal life with God. 


This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life... Deuteronomy 30:19-20