Choice is a very powerful thing. We all like being able to make choices – in fact choice is an integral part of freedom. Can you imagine what it would be like to live your life without the ability to make a choice? Even worse – imagine not being able to have a choice as to your life partner!
At the outset of this post, let me say that the course of our life (whether good or bad) is not determined by the circumstances that we confront in life, but by the choices that we make in those circumstances.
I have seen people presented with some of the worst circumstances that life has to offer. Some people choose to maintain a good attitude, striving to overcome their circumstances. On the other hand, others accept their circumstances as their “lot in life”, eventually finding themselves imprisoned by their circumstances. It is important to realise that we cannot choose our circumstances, but we can choose the attitude that we maintain in our circumstance. Ultimately, we are not victims of the situations that life puts us in, we are victims of the choices that we make within those situations. Understanding and accepting this fact is vital to living a full life!
Let’s be truthful now – usually we prefer to believe that it is anything other than our own choices that put us where we are. I think people are too quick to fall into a victim mentality! I think “victimhood” (if that is actually a word) is a chronic disease in our society. Many people these days are too lazy and irresponsible to even understand that they have a choice. People are constantly searching for someone to blame for their circumstances they find themselves in when often they are in that position because of the choices that they made!
Galatians 6:7 says “Be not deceived; god is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Sounds like choices to me!
For all of my life, it has been made perfectly clear that smoking damages your health, most likely resulting in an early death. Has anyone seen the pictures on the cigarette packages lately…yuck! Yet today, lawyers are getting rich by suing cigarette companies on behalf of men and women who have suffered because of smoking. Sure the tobacco companies have created an addictive product, but everyone who chooses to smoke today, knows that. Lawyers are called in to “rescue” these people from their situation which is really a result of their choice. You see, there is a consequence to our choices - life or death, success or failure, the choice is yours.
In planting weeds of irresponsibility, how can be hope to harvest an abundant crop of excellence and success! The choices we make will determine our harvest. Many Christians unfortunately sow one thing and then get a harvest they don’t like – so they ask God (like the lawyer) to change the harvest. It is a simple concept – what you sow, you will reap.
Now we must remember that God is gracious, forgiving us for the sins we have committed in ignorance. The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When we are Born Again, God forgives us of our sins. But, He also tells us that we are planting the seeds today that produce tomorrow's harvest. His call to us is that we would understand the power of choice.
At the outset of this post, let me say that the course of our life (whether good or bad) is not determined by the circumstances that we confront in life, but by the choices that we make in those circumstances.
I have seen people presented with some of the worst circumstances that life has to offer. Some people choose to maintain a good attitude, striving to overcome their circumstances. On the other hand, others accept their circumstances as their “lot in life”, eventually finding themselves imprisoned by their circumstances. It is important to realise that we cannot choose our circumstances, but we can choose the attitude that we maintain in our circumstance. Ultimately, we are not victims of the situations that life puts us in, we are victims of the choices that we make within those situations. Understanding and accepting this fact is vital to living a full life!
Let’s be truthful now – usually we prefer to believe that it is anything other than our own choices that put us where we are. I think people are too quick to fall into a victim mentality! I think “victimhood” (if that is actually a word) is a chronic disease in our society. Many people these days are too lazy and irresponsible to even understand that they have a choice. People are constantly searching for someone to blame for their circumstances they find themselves in when often they are in that position because of the choices that they made!
Galatians 6:7 says “Be not deceived; god is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Sounds like choices to me!
For all of my life, it has been made perfectly clear that smoking damages your health, most likely resulting in an early death. Has anyone seen the pictures on the cigarette packages lately…yuck! Yet today, lawyers are getting rich by suing cigarette companies on behalf of men and women who have suffered because of smoking. Sure the tobacco companies have created an addictive product, but everyone who chooses to smoke today, knows that. Lawyers are called in to “rescue” these people from their situation which is really a result of their choice. You see, there is a consequence to our choices - life or death, success or failure, the choice is yours.In planting weeds of irresponsibility, how can be hope to harvest an abundant crop of excellence and success! The choices we make will determine our harvest. Many Christians unfortunately sow one thing and then get a harvest they don’t like – so they ask God (like the lawyer) to change the harvest. It is a simple concept – what you sow, you will reap.
Now we must remember that God is gracious, forgiving us for the sins we have committed in ignorance. The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When we are Born Again, God forgives us of our sins. But, He also tells us that we are planting the seeds today that produce tomorrow's harvest. His call to us is that we would understand the power of choice.
Acknowledging that we make the choices helps us to be more aware of the choices available to us in the future. It helps us to stand back when things seem bleak and see other options and other ways. If we feel like victims, we react without assessing our possibilities. If there is a turn – we miss it because we are not looking. The power of choice!
That's my five minutes!
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