Making Choices

Good Morning!

One of my favorite quotes is from Dwight D. Eisenhower. He said, "The history of free men is never written by chance, but by choice - their choice."

The power of choice is incredible. There are few things in life that are not controlled by our choices.

Joshua admonished the people he served, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

Yes, we make choices for ourselves and for those God has entrusted in our care. I really get concerned when I hear parents say things like, “Well, I want my children to decide if they want to go to church. I want it to be their decision.” We have a responsibility as parents to make many choices for our children as they grow and mature. I would say that attending the house of worship is one of them. It has to be somewhere above, eating, taking a bath, brushing their teeth, wearing clothing, going to school. We don’t let them make decisions on their own about any of those and would accuse a parent who did of being negligent. Maybe to the point of reporting them to authorities.

But Joshua didn’t just say his “household.” He said “me and my household.” Each individual does have to make the decision to serve the Lord at some point. We are responsible for many personal choices in life. My attitude is a choice. No one controls my attitude even though we accuse other people of “making us angry” or “making us feel (you fill in the blank).” These are choices we each make. We give other people control of our lives when we allow them to influence our choice of attitude or feelings.

The Psalmist said, “This is the day the Lord has made. I WILL (emphasis mine) rejoice and be glad in it.” He made the choice to rejoice. He was actually saying two things. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of Greek and Hebrew words, To “be glad” is simply to have a bright countenance, to be happy. To “rejoice” on the other hand was a statement of faith. It means to spin round in response to any violent or strong emotion whether joy or fear. As you would spin round in the night if you heard a noise or movement behind you. Or you would spin round and stare at a celebrity if you passed them unexpectedly on the street. The context the word is in here tells us this experience will be happy, joyful.

Think about that. The Psalmist is saying, “Lord this is a day that You have made for me. You have unexpected blessings that will cause me to spin round in awe of You handiwork. He walked around expecting the unexpected.

That is your day... my day today. Let’s put a smile, the glow of His presence on as we go and walk around expecting the unexpected then stand in awe of His power.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to make right choices in all of my life today. May I expect Your goodness, Your miraculous grace to be demonstrated to me today. When my mind drifts toward negative thoughts, or wrong attitudes lovingly, gently nudge me and remind that You designed this day for me. It can’t possibly be that bad! AMEN.

Blessings!
Pastor Roger