Your Choice

Your Choice

Last Sunday my Pastor gave a sermon that has my mind swirling. I like those sermons because I tend to reflect and write on them. He gave three take home points and I will focus on one of those today. I’m sure the other two will be a post in the near future. Before I start I feel like I should share that no matter what you are facing God is good. 

"When we make the choice to indulge in our sin, who else is going to pay for our choices?"

Ouch! Did you feel that? Yeah, me too, my toes hurt!! Our day is filled with choices to make and most of them are small. The small choices we make daily add up to a big choice over a lifetime. We get so caught up in the mundane choices of each day that we forget or don’t realize the affects they have on our lives. One choice starts a ripple in our lives and others around us and we will never know just how many lives it will touch. Just like our lives the Bible is full of choices that were made that affect us today. Some are obvious but I want to focus on the lineage of Jesus and more specifically King David and Joseph.

King David made choices even before he became king that set him up to be a man that Israel would follow and God would bless. David was but a shepherd boy when he defeated Goliath. We all know the story, but David made two choices that day that still has a ripple in our lives. The first choice David made was to fight Goliath, but he made the choice to help out his father. “and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.” (1Samuel 17:25b) David wanted these things for himself and for his father and as we know David became wealthy. His second choice that day reflected his faith and trust in God and is part of what set him on the path to be blessed by God. “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.” (1Samuel 17:45-46aNKJV) David didn’t say if God will help me defeat you, he said, “the Lord will deliver you into my hand.” God is sovereign and in control, but what if he hadn’t of been so bold in his faith? What if you were bold in your faith?

The second man that I want to talk about is Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, his step-father so to say. I’m sure Joseph was very confused when he found out Mary was pregnant. He had a choice to make, and even though it doesn’t seem like his choice had much of a ripple effect on our lives it was a big choice to make. Joseph wasn’t sure about Mary and was going to divorce her secretly, but an angel talked to him and he chose to listen. “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:19-21 NKJV) There was nothing special about Joseph, he like most men, wanted to divorce Mary when he found out she was pregnant with a child that wasn’t his. Again, God is sovereign and in control, but what if he hadn’t listened to the angel? Do you listen to God when he speaks to you?

God did not choose a mighty warrior to defeat the giant and he didn’t choose a king to be the father of Jesus. God picked a small, lowly shepherd boy to defeat a giant and mighty warrior. God picked a lowly carpenter to receive Jesus as his son. Why did he choose them? God knew their hearts. They both had faith in God and wanted to do what was best in God’s sight. Back to the question that I first asked: "When we make the choice to indulge in our sin, who else is going to pay for our choices?" Thankfully these two men made a choice that has blessed believers, but what about the choices we make daily? If we decide to be grumpy, to complain and give in to our temptations on a much deeper level who will feel the ripple of our choices? The obvious answer is your family, your spouse and children and to some extent your friends, especially those close to you. The truth is, not only do our choices send out ripples to our loved ones, but they extend to our family we’ve yet to know, like our grandkids. Last, but most importantly the choice to indulge in your sin hurts your relationship with God. The choice to give in may seem like a small choice today, but at the end of your life will that small temptation, that one time of giving in, will it cause you to regret the path it led you on? The choice is your choice, but remember this life, your life isn’t about you, it’s about God and his plan. Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you” Numbers 6:24