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Deuteronomy 30:19 “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.
The difference between us in life is our choices. We make so many choices every day. Every choice we make has responsibilities and consequences. Your choice may bless you or it may hurt you. When we get up in the morning, the act of making choices begins as follows; should I pray or study, should I eat today or fast, should I go to work or call off and rest etc. God created us with potentials, free-will, and abilities to make choices.
He gave us free will to choose and decide what to do for ourselves, for God, and for others because He is not a dictator. In the Bible passage above, God said “choose life”; He did not impose His choice on us. God loves everybody but it is our choice to love Him back or to accept His love or not. When we make choices outside or against His will, and it turns out not favorable, we play the blame game. Adam blamed Eve, Whites blame blacks, husbands blame wives, and verse versa. God allows us to choose between good and evil; it is up to us to choose good; it is up to us to repent and be winners or continue in sin and remain losers. Our choices affect people, even our children, so as Christians let us make good and godly choices like Joshua did in Joshua 24:15. He said, “for me and my household, we will serve the lord”. He made a good choice for himself and his children.
Just as there was the tree of good and evil in the garden of Eden, so we have good and evil, narrow and broadways, to choose from. We have good and bad characters, good and bad lives, good and bad fruits etc. My prayer is for God to help us to make good and right choices in 2022. Right choices are hard to make but right choices lead to success. Our choices determine our destiny, and our choices determine our future. Before making choices consider the following: does it please God? Is it the will of God? Is it profitable? Is there any reward or blessings, not just profit? Will it bring honor to my family, my church, and myself? This choice that I am about to make, will it hurt me or others, does it fit?
Let us avoid making decisions or choices when we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. Each of these conditions causes us to experience emotions that change how we think. Finally, choose to serve the Lord; choose to change from better to best. The call for discipleship in Matthew 28:19-20 is not optional and I pray that we all will obey. It is my prayer that our choices will not hurt us in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
January 30th, 2022 –– Pastor Christopher Anyaiwe
