Our Choice

Freedom of choice is one of the greatest privileges we have in our society. We take it for granted here in Australia because this is a Democracy founded on Christian principles, but it is something we should cherish because a large part of the world’s population doesn’t have that freedom.

With that freedom comes a great responsibility though, because we can easily make the wrong choices, and that is why it is so desirable that we seek God’s guidance in our everyday lives, after all He has a “panoramic view” of the possibilities we will face and has an “army” of angels who He can deploy to assist us if we request it, and if we also seek the guidance of The Holy Spirit we will be a long way ahead of those who “go it alone”.

I was looking at this young Magnolia at the corner of my daughter’s house; it is very beautiful and in the early Spring concentrates all its efforts into producing flowers. Oh yes it will produce leaves and wood during the year but producing flowers and seeds is really what it lives for. God “programmed” it to do that therefore it really has no choice. Of course it has no mind like we have so if it wasn’t programmed it would produce nothing!

Fortunately, we do have minds and being free to choose we need to decide what

our aim in life is or we will produce nothing worthwhile either. What are our choices? Well we could be like Chloe Esposito in the photo here who won the gold medal for Australia, in the pentathlon at the Olympic games at Rio. The pentathlon as you know consists of five disciplines which are: fencing, swimming, show jumping, shooting and running. Chloe may have favoured one of these disciplines over the rest but she could not concentrate on it at the expense of the other four, but had to keep her mind on her ultimate goal which was the medal. Having made that her choice, her whole life had to be directed towards succeeding in all five disciplines. From the time she woke early each morning, she had to shower to invigorate her body, (not sleep in as she may have wished), go for a jog, (whether she felt like it or not), have a healthy breakfast (no “fast food”) and then do strenuous training in each of the disciplines. In the evening it was a matter of not going out to parties as she might have liked to, but to get the appropriate rest that her body required. So, although she was an Australian she had to live a life that was different to that of most Australians in order to achieve her goal.

Christians are instructed to live lives that are different too. In 2 Corinthians 6:17 Paul says God will look on us as his sons and daughters if we separate ourselves from things that are not acceptable to Him. You see, once we realise that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to “nullify” or “delete” the consequences of our sin (and bearing in mind that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”) (Romans 3:23), we should be grateful and delighted to ask Him in prayer to be the “Lord of our life” as that reinstates us as sons and daughters of God. Our aim in life should then be to accept His invitation to spend eternity with him in Heaven.

Now, having made that choice we should then adjust our lives in a similar way to how Chloe adjusted hers, and therefore “pass up” many of the “worldly” things that we might otherwise have done.  Is this worthwhile? Well Chloe thought it was worthwhile in order to win a gold medal, but that pales into insignificance when we compare it with what we will gain by “Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable unto God” which Paul, in Romans 12:1, describes as a reasonable thing to do considering what God is offering us. Did you say “Exactly what is He offering us”? Well in addition to Salvation from the consequences of sin, He is offering us a position as “joint heirs” in the greatest “estate” in the universe where Jesus himself has gone to “prepare a place (accommodation) for us.” (Romans 8:17 & John 14:2)

I ask you: “Is it worth ignoring God’s offer just so we can “enjoy” a few earthly “pleasures” that will not last?”

Please do yourself a favour and examine the facts. To do that you may have to turn off your T.V. and Face book for a couple of evenings and read the New Testament where all the information is laid out clearly. Actually, if you haven’t got a New Testament book, you can find it on your iphone.  Having done that you will at least be able to make an “informed” choice whilst bearing in mind that Jesus said “narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it”. Make sure you are one of those “few”.   Best wishes with that, Tom.