Life’s choices
Life is full of choices. Have you noticed? I choose what to wear in the morning. I choose whether to have another biscuit. I choose whether or not to chat with my friends on WhatsApp when I know I should be working!
I also choose how to respond to that difficult neighbour. I choose to forgive that friend who really offended me last week. I choose not to dwell in the past.
Hmm! Some choices don’t seem to matter too much, but some really do. Who we get into a romantic relationship with, for example; who we marry. But the biggest choice of all is the choice we have about Jesus.
Our walk with God
Sometimes we feel we don’t have many choices, and to some extent and in some situations, that’s true. That can lead to a feeling of helplessness, resignation and even despair. But while some decisions are trivial (‘Shall I have a cup of tea now?’), there are small decisions we make every day that can actually influence our whole lives. For example, eating sensibly is a great option for future health; and building our relationship with Jesus will surely alleviate stress, as we choose to trust him even in the middle of life’s storms, when we’re being tossed about and we don’t know where we will eventually land.
Much of our walk with God can be seen as a choice. In Joshua 24:15 we read a challenge: effectively, ‘Choose who you will serve! Who’s it going to be? The true God? Or another god?’
There are plenty of other gods we might be serving and not even know it. If money and possessions and even a romantic relationship is top of our agenda, it means God is not. He is second – or somewhere in the middle, perhaps. Our relationship with God has to be the first thing in our lives if we truly want to live for him… and I don’t just mean ‘doing church’ – going to church may be on our list of good things, and meeting with other believers is a ‘must’ if we want to grow (see Hebrews 10:25). But what about our own personal relationship with our Creator? Without him we wouldn’t even be here. What’s our friendship like with God? Do we spend time with him? Do we invite the Holy Spirit to lead us in the right paths for the day ahead? Do we ask our heavenly Father to make his will known to us, so we can make choices that are part of his plans for us?
Decisions
Many of the things we have to decide, when it comes to life, aren’t in the Bible. For example, we can’t flick it open and expect a direct word about which school to send our child to, or which yoghurt we need to buy!
I work in the world of books, both as a writer and editor. Books are unique to the author and a reader can become accustomed to the way they ‘speak’. By spending time with God’s Word, we simply get to know the Author better – and we become accustomed to his will and his way. We become more open to hearing his gentle voice, when he says, ‘This is the way; walk in it’ (Isaiah 30:21). Sometimes this requires trust and faith, and maybe at times we get it wrong and hear the heavenly SatNav saying, ‘Do a U-turn!’ But the more we practise listening and following, the more we will walk with Jesus. In John 10, he promises that his sheep will ‘listen to his voice’ (v3). This whole passage is about belonging; about not following a stranger, but trusting the Shepherd because we recognise who is speaking. It’s so easy to listen to other voices – some mean well, some do not; we might often listen to our own voice, our own desires, and mistakenly believe it’s the Lord! He will never speak against his written and revealed Word; and often, a sense of peace accompanies the right decision.
The Good Shepherd loves us. He takes care of us. Why wander off into the rough grass, when he leads us the good way? Let’s make that decision to make him our focus, so that we walk in the safe pasture. Even though everything might be turned upside down, and life is chaotic, or a mystery, we can know safety in the eye of the storm.
Conclusion
Somebody once gave me a lovely card, written in her own hand in beautiful calligraphy: ‘I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you’ (Isaiah 41:9-10). In making choices to go God’s way, we often forget that we are chosen by him. There is no place for rejection in God’s arms. He comforts us, and will never turn from us. We, like the prodigal son in Luke 15, often find ourselves running away and getting into a bit of a pickle.
If that’s you, come back to your Father. He knows what’s best for you! He knows what’s happened, and what’s happening in our lives, and he doesn’t reject us. We need to trust him with the future! John 15:16 tells us Jesus chose us to bear lasting fruit. When we hear his call, respond, and follow him, we choose hope, peace and eternal life. We are part of a beautiful kingdom that cannot be seen, but can be perceived. What could be better than that?
All Scripture NIV 2011 UK
Sheila Jacobs is single, a writer, editor, retreat leader and mentor. She is an award-winning author of 19 books, including A Little Book of Rest: Walking Out of Anxiety and Fear (Malcolm Down).