So Many Choices to Make!

We went on a Christmas tree hunt yesterday. It was the first time for Danny and I to walk through a field of trees in search of the perfect one. It was hard. Our 6 year old grandson said he didn’t like it because there were so many choices. He said you pick one and then you see another one. You think you make the right choice and then you change your mind. He really did like it, but I understand. As a first timer I found that they all looked beautiful. But upon closer inspection there were flaws that didn’t meet our standards. We didn’t even know we had standards until we were met with the choices. Acres and acres of trees and still we wanted to look farther.  After the tree was cut we took it to the tree farmer who placed it on a shaking platform to get all the dead needles and debris out of the tree. That machine looked like it would tear the tree up, but it made it look much better. We were glad we didn’t take all the loose material home with us to shake out on our floor.

Blake was right – it was hard to make the final choice and stick with it. We did have a great time, but we laughed about the commitment to the tree – was it the right one? Didn’t we like the one on row 25 on the furthest acreage? On and on we all laughed.

We are a country full of people who have relished the many choices we have. Unlike other countries that have very little choices, we can even linger in decision making when it comes to simple things like the many brands and styles of cheeses, paper towels and band-aids. Simple things have become more complicated because of the choices.

Yet in spite of all these choices we still have a hard time making the commitment to live with our selection.  We are rich indeed in the fact that we can make our own choices about everything from Christmas trees to vocation. And yet for all our choices we still have a hard time making commitments to the choices. Satan knows our weakness so he subtly comes in with “a better idea” or gives us little hints of discontent in what we have. He’ll even send people into our lives to prove that we could have something better. We find ourselves either coveting another’s life or wishing our own perfectly good life away. We long to enter the field of choices and change what we have.

Just like looking at Christmas trees, we have to give our wants and wishes a thorough examination. What might appear as a great tree could have a very crooked trunk or a bad side without many limbs. So too we must look thoroughly at what our eyes relish to make sure we don’t end up with something we never really wanted in the first place. 

The only way a believer can make the right choice, the absolutely perfect choice in God’s estimation is to take everything to prayer and filter it through the shaking of the Word. Unless we are willing to give God the final choice, to let Him choose the best things for our lives, we will be destined to always look back and wonder if we could have done something better.  Without God’s guidance and waiting for Him to answer our prayers with His best we are destined to live without making a real commitment, even if we’ve made vows to complete what we started.

Oh beloved, run to God’s Word this morning and read: all that glitters isn’t gold and all that looks bright and promising isn’t always a good thing. But God speaks to our hearts and He always speaks the best things. Trust Him. Wait on Him. Then make your vows before Him and complete your commitments. Even when things look impossible or love grows cold or other things look better – in the light of God’s love for you and your commitment to Him first, you’ll find that what you already have is enough. You’ll also find that He gives His finest to His own. He can be trusted to make the right choices for you. Even when others make poor choices around you and you have to live with their decisions and their lack of commitment, God is committed to you always. He is so committed to your best and His glory that He will take care of you even when things go wrong. You’ll never be a victim as long as you put your trust in His choices. You can’t worry and wonder why when others make poor choices concerning your life, but you can rest in God’s promises for you no matter what.

Rejoice! Rejoice in your freedom to let God choose. Rejoice in His wonderful plan for your life. Rejoice that a Savior has come to make all things news and bless us with His marvelous plan of grace, faith and salvation. God loves you and He’s for you and that’s worth letting Him guide you into His wonderful choices for everything you will ever really need.

Proverbs 2:11 Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.

Jeremiah 39:18 Because you trusted Me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe. I, the Lord, have spoken.

Ephesians 3:17 Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Job 23:11 For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed His ways and not turned aside.

Psalm 18:30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.

What a Day for Decisions! God Will Guide You!

He spied Danny doing bike blessings at a booth during a rally a couple of years ago. The two friends hugged and he asked Danny to go with him to meet a friend. “I’ve been telling her she’s got to meet you!”  He went on to explain that just like Danny had shared Jesus with him at another rally in eastern Arkansas, he now wanted Danny to share Jesus with a friend of his. He just knew that she’d jump at the chance to meet Jesus if she could just hear the truth. 

Danny was introduced to the young woman and they began to talk. Towards the end of the conversation, she explained something profound to Danny: “I believe this is all there is. When you die, you die and that’s it.” Of course Danny shared that we are all eternal beings, and we will spend eternity somewhere ---forever.  By not making a decision, she in fact was deciding her future.

The old biker friend shook his head. He just couldn’t believe someone would hear the Gospel so simply spoken and refuse it.  She went away still trying to convince herself that there is no “afterlife”. We still pray that those seeds planted will produce a harvest of faith in her life when someone else comes along and waters that seed with more Truth.

Our lives are full of decisions. From small decisions we make as children, such as which toy we want for Christmas on to adult decisions that carry bigger responsibility. Some decisions have little if any real consequences. Others, as we get older have monumental outcomes which will turn our lives in one direction or another forever.

Today is another incredible day for decision making.  We are making history like never before. I just pray, and I hope you do too, that God will not be writing our prologue, but that one of us will be writing about the greatest Revival ever seen. Right now we still have a choice; right now we still can make a difference. Today is all we have.

Oh beloved, run to the Author and Finisher of your faith! Let Him direct your decisions beginning fresh and new today! He cares about your past, so much that He made a way to redeem each and every one of your sorrows and wrong decisions. He cares about your present so much that He is eager to lead, guide and direct your every move today. He cares about your future so much that He’s made a way for you to live with Him forever. Not only that, He’s made a way today for you to live so there are no more regrets!

Thank Him this morning for His incredible gift of choosing you!  Thank Him too that you can now choose to walk in the light of His Word and live as an overcomer, victorious and confident in Him! What a Savior, what a Friend, what a King!

2 Timothy 1:12 I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of his return.

Ephesians 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.

2 Corinthians 2:14 But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

Psalm 34:22  But the LORD will redeem those who serve Him. No one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned.

Psalm 32:8  The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

Ephesians 1:7-8 He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Say Yes to God and Watch a Blessed Life Unfold!

The two year old grandson looked his mother right in the eye and said, “I said NO!” That little two letter word has become his favorite these days. And he’s using it on his mother regularly.  Of course he gets in trouble. It’s amazing to me how kids just have a keen sense of what “no” means. You have to teach waving and bye bye and we all repeat our names often for the little ones to learn, but the word “no” just seems to come naturally.  Such a little word that carries such huge meaning.  We think it’s so cute when a tiny tot says no, but then as they get older we find that it’s not so cute. Saying no to their parents becomes a sign of being spoiled or unwilling to yield their will.

Oh beloved, have you been hearing God’s instructions? Are you wondering if you can truly obey? At times it may feel as though the Lord is asking for something that’s just too hard to do.  Yet it is only in the yielding that true discipleship develops. Run to Him this morning and yield that decision to Him. Ask Him to come into your life fresh and new and give your day and your decisions to Him! His Word is your safety and His requests are your blessings! It’s never too late to say yes to Him for He is always waiting to guide and direct your path. Not only that, His guidance is the path of pure joy and the place you will find your real meaning in life. There is no love like that of our Father God, Who forgives our unwilling hearts and makes all things new!

Job 22:21-22 Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you. Listen to His instructions, and store them in your heart.

Colossians 2:6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.

John 2:5 His (Jesus’s) mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

1 Samuel 15:22  Samuel said, “ Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

Psalm 91:11 Amplified For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].