Each day we are faced with a ton of choices. Coffee or tea? Hot or cold? Right or wrong? Left or right? Go out or stay home? The list goes on and on. Some choices are easy and may even seem insignificant. Other choices can feel immense and take a pro/con list, a lot of research, and hours of prayer.
Often, we apply this same philosophy to making changes in our lives. Have you ever tried to break a bad habit? Were you successful? Did you think if you had enough will power you could simply stop doing the bad habit? (ie: smoking, overeating, spending too much time on social media…) How many times did you try and then fail? If you’re like me, I’ve tried to stop doing things over and over only to find myself in my same familiar patterns.
It’s not enough to simply stop doing something. Instead, we need to choose what we would like to do instead of the bad habit. (ie: exercising more, meditation, spending time with friends…) When we replace a bad habit with a better one, we can finally gain victory in that area of our lives! Woo hoo!
Our relationship with God is the same way – do we consistently choose Him? Or do we choose other things that the world says will make us happy? Things like money, fame, earthly pleasures can all become a choice over God’s plan in purpose in our lives. When we seek after the things of this world, we are choosing to serve them over serving God. Have you ever felt God prompting you to do something, but you didn’t do anything? You still made a choice! You chose disobedience over obedience.
God has given us the gift of free will which means we get to make a choice. Do we follow His lead, even when it’s uncomfortable or takes us away from where we want to go? Or do we follow our lead, and choose only the things that make us happy and are on our wish list? Jesus made one choice that can save us all, He died on a cross so we could have eternity with Him. Now it’s our turn, what will we choose? To live a life for God or live a life for ourselves? Let’s pray we make the right choice!
Be blessed,
Jennifer
“…then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” Joshua 24:15