Choices, Choices, Choices

All of us are preachers. Did you know that? It’s true! And it isn’t just the handful of us who serve as professional clergy; it’s everyone! Your actions, your words, your passions, your fears all proclaim to the world what you worship and value. Whether it is God, money, clothing, family, or yourself, you worship something, and your life is your sermon.

You are who you are because of the choices you have made. To be fair, some choices are harder than others, but ultimately how we choose to respond or how to think about an object or an event it up to us. You will meet people who have experienced unfathomable hardships who are the most pleasant people in the world. Others experience minor inconveniences and become unbearably bitter and angry. How is it that some choose to love while others choose to hate? Some choose action and others apathy?

Life is about choices. Sorry, Hokey-Pokey. Our choices, whether they be good, bad, or ugly all have consequences. You’ve heard it said that “Everything happens for a reason.” Sometimes those things happen because we are stupid and make bad choices. Sometimes those things happen because we live in a fallen world and aren’t in Heaven yet. Either way, how we respond to those things becomes the sermon we preach with our life.

The Bible is a book of choices. In the beginning, God chose to create. He started from nothing and spoke everything into existence, even you and me. We are here because God chose to create us. I believe that the Bible is clear that each of us was created with a purpose and a unique set of gifts. There may be unplanned pregnancies, but no surprise babies! In Psalm 139, David writes about the intimate nature of the creation of each and every one of us.

Another example of a monumental choice is when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, even though they had been forbidden to do so. Why did God even put the tree there if he didn’t want them to eat the fruit, right? He put the tree in the garden because he wanted Adam and Eve to have a choice. Without a choice what are we? Even a slave can choose to obey or disobey, but without the power to choose, we are nothing. God wanted Adam and Eve to choose to love him more than their earthly desires, and he gave them the freedom to make that choice every day.

Some other examples from the Old Testament are when Abraham chose to leave everything behind and follow God into a strange and foreign land. Isaac chose to sell his birthright, and Jacob chose to wrestle with God. Moses eventually chose to lead God’s people out of bondage in Egypt, and the people of Israel had to choose each day to follow God’s commands.

For example, in Deuteronomy 6, the people are given clear instructions on how they are to live their lives. Having just received the Ten Commandments, they were well prepared to move forward to the next stage of their journey and to conquer the Promised Land. If they would only choose to obey God’s commands, and at the end of the book of Joshua, before he sent the people into the lands they had conquered to live in peace, he admonished them with these words, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15) They people had once again been given clear instructions and the freedom to make a choice. They had to choose every day to either follow God or to go their own way.

Israel chose the “Bad Idea Merry-go-Round.” They would love God, make compromises, forget God, fall into trouble, suffer the consequences of their actions, remember God, repent, be restored, and repeat. This happened again and again and again. In our minds we are tempted to view this as a history of Israel’s failures. We can ask ourselves, “How stupid can they be? Haven’t they learned anything? Why would they keep making those decisions and being surprised when they get the same results?” And yet, we find ourselves on the same ride more often than we’d like to admit, don’t we? You see, this account of Israel isn’t about how terrible they were; it’s not about their constant messes. The recorded account shows us that God is patient with them despite their continual bad choices. He waits for them and when they are ready to accept it, he pours out his mercy and love upon them.

All along the way, God desired to break the cycle, because he still loved them in spite of their failures. From the very moment God chose to create humanity, he had already made the choice to pay the price for our sinfulness. After Adam and Eve first sinned, he said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.” In the end, God promised, that Satan would be crushed. In his conversations with Israel’s leaders, he reminded them that a greater leader was coming who would deliver all the people. The prophets all spoke of one who was coming to lead the people into righteousness and break the cycle of sin forever. Finally, in John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

You’ve heard people say, “I don’t believe in a God that would send anyone to hell.” Well, neither do I. I do, however, believe in a God that will give us the freedom to choose our own path. Today, we have a choice to make. John 3:17-21 reads, “^₁₇ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ^₁₈ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ^₁₉ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ^₂₀ Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ^₂₁ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

The world already stands condemned because of sin; that’s plain to see when reading the news or scrolling through social media. We live in a broken, sinful world. Murders, prostitution, addictions, wars, abuse, etc. What God is offering us is the choice to be saved from the condemnation of the world, just like the gave Adam and Eve a choice. We must choose our own path, because God will not go where he is not wanted; he will not force himself upon us. He will honor our decision and will allow us to experience the consequences of that decision. If we do not desire to live with him for a few years on this earth while we are living, he will not force us to live with him for eternity in heaven after we die, either. We have the freedom to choose heaven with God or to remain condemned to hell with the world.

God chose to send his son, Jesus, to die for us so that we could have the choice once and for all. Each of us must decide what we will do. Our freedom has already been purchased, but we have to choose to accept the gift. In John 14:6, Jesus made a very important, but exclusive statement. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s the choice. There’s an old joke that talks about the Classic Rock songs “Highway to Hell” and “Stairway to Heaven” reflecting the expected traffic numbers. Sadly, many have chosen, and many will still choose to ignore God’s gift of a choice.

If you do want to make that choice today, it is truly as simple as ABC. I know that this is an old cliche, but it still rings true. We must Acknowledge that we are sinful and need saving. Think about it like this, the doctor can tell me I have cancer all he wants, but until I accept the fact that I need medical treatment, he won’t do anything to help me. I have to want help before I can accept help. Second, we must believe that Jesus is really who he claimed to be. He is either truly the Son of God, or he was a madman. There’s really no in between. If I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died to save me and rose again from the grave, then I have hope that he can do the same for me. I must believe that his death purchased me from the bonds of sin and that his resurrection secures my freedom from the eternal grave. Finally, I must confess my sins. This is where it gets hard, because it becomes intimate. I must tell God my sins, not the preacher, not the priest, not the Pope. I confess my sins to God alone. The Apostle John also wrote another letter, and in it he wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

God doesn’t desire to condemn us or to punish us for our sins or for being a bad person. That was never his plan. He has always wanted us to be with him, which is why he created us in the first place! Hell was never designed for humans; it is for Satan and his followers, i.e. demons, but if we choose to follow him there, then that is our choice.

The choice is up to you. Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, either the gods of this broken world or the One who created you to be loved. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Featured Image by Vadislav Babienko.