If I were to say that we all have to make choices every day, most everyone would agree with that statement. We make the choice to get out of bed, we choose what clothes we’re going to wear, and then we come to some very important choices: coffee. We choose which mug we’re going to drink our coffee out of, cream or no cream, French press or drip, medium or dark roast… so many glorious choices! We go on to choose our meals and snacks, other beverages (is there really any other beverage?), and then we come to choosing our attitude and if we’ll put our trust in God. It is, in fact, a daily choice.
As I think about the many choices we make each day – all while enjoying a fresh cup of coffee – I can’t help but think about the significance of those choices. We recently watched It’s a Wonderful Life, and I found myself caught up in the emotions of how one life can impact so many others. George Bailey saves his brother, the brother grows up to serve in the military, and while fighting in the war the brother saves a transport full of troops. A transport full of troops made it home because George Bailey saved his brother’s life. Wow!
I wonder about the choices I make and how they impact others. Maybe by serving in the children’s ministry on the occasional Sunday, I’m able to give someone else the opportunity to sit in the church service and find a deeper relationship with God – or simply to have a break. Perhaps by writing this blog, someone might come to read it and learn that God loves them. Maybe by choosing to make small talk with the cashier at the store, they realize that they matter and are appreciated. These little, seemingly insignificant choices can cause a ripple that goes beyond our own life.
There are choices all throughout the Bible that had to be made that we’re the benefactors of. Even the story of Cain and Abel can have an impact on how we view God. God spared Cain’s life which gave him time to have a repentant heart for killing his brother – have you checked out the meanings of the names of Cain’s descendants? I think it would be awesome to see Cain in Heaven. Even back then, we can see that God’s heart was to extend grace to a fallen world. Look at Noah – because he was a righteous and blameless man, the human race was able to continue on. We’re alive today because Noah chose to obey God.
Okay, so Noah was an easy one and you might still be on the fence about the example of Cain, but the Bible is full of so many others. Genealogies were – and are – so very important because they show the significance of a life. Because of one person making a choice, ripples are made. Because one person chose to step out in faith, hope continued to burn.
Each person listed in Matthew 1 made choices. Good and bad, they made choices that God was able to use in the genealogy of Jesus. Tamar? She had to disguise herself as a prostitute in order to receive what was due her. Rahab? She was a prostitute who hid the spies and fully believed in the might of God. Ruth was a Moabite, a group of people born from incest (Lot and his daughters) that were pagans and hated Israel – but God sees the heart, not the pedigree. And then we have Bathsheba. It would be a bit difficult to have been in her shoes. The king calls and she’s supposed to say no? But God was still able to turn things around.
Some of the choices made by people we read about in the Bible were moments of what we think are a bit insignificant – on first glance. Then there are times that the person verbalizes the choice they’re making in a way to invite and encourage others to join them. We read many times that God puts before them a decision to make. The Israelites had to choose to obey God in order to be set free from slavery. They chose to cross the Red Sea when God parted the waters, they chose to cross the Jordan River when God held the current back, and they chose to lay claim to the land that God had given to them.
They always had a choice.
As they chose, I can’t imagine that it was always easy. Imagine leaving the only life you’d ever known, living as a slave, and going into the unknown with only what you could carry. They had no crops to harvest, no government to give hand-outs (not a godly system anyway), and no place to call home. Can you imagine crossing the Red Sea on dry ground? The time it took to walk across the Red Sea, with the walls of water held back on either side to allow safe passage, had to be terrifying! But they chose to put one foot in front of the other.
We all come to a point of a decision being required of us. We all have those pivotal moments that can turn the tides. Even Mary, Jesus’ mother, had a moment to make a defining choice. After the angel, Gabriel, spoke to Mary about what God was planning to do through her, she agreed to it (Luke 1:38)! Imagine what would have happened if she had made a different choice.
Are you facing a choice today? How would your choice affect others?
We’re entering into a new year, and I can’t help but see a connection between crossing through the waters and making the choice to do so. As we journey through life, we’re going to be brought to different bodies of water. God may not part the waters, but He’s going to see you safely across. I’ve heard the catchy saying that if God brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it. Another is that if you find you’re in deep waters, it probably means that God knows your adversary can’t swim. In any scenario, we have a choice to make, and what we decide will ripple through the generations.
The most obvious choice we have to make is spelled out in the Old Testament, but still applies to us today:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NASB
We can choose life or death, blessings or curses… We choose to place our faith in God, or we choose to place our faith in ourselves. This choice is an invitation to never facing the Red Seas or Jordan Rivers alone, to never taking the steps of faith alone. We’ll never have to build the ark alone, never have to face a giant with only a few stones and a slingshot. But it is still a choice.
Mary had to accept the plan and be a willing vessel because God is the epitome of a gentleman. He will never force us to do what’s best – He always gives us the choice.
Many people see the beginning of a new year as a time of hope and possibilities. It’s fresh – like the first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s exciting to think of the possibilities of great things that lie in store for us, isn’t it? Maybe we’ll move into a new home… maybe our business will start picking up more speed… Perhaps there’s a change in store for you and your family. New job? New business venture? New addition to the family? Maybe God has something in store for you that you haven’t felt bold enough to dream about yet. With God, all things are possible.
But all of these possibilities come with a choice. Are you ready to trust Him?
I suppose there are morning beverage choices other than coffee (though I can’t imagine they’re nearly as wonderful), so as you contemplate life with the new year in mind, what choices are you facing? What situations are you about to navigate through? Let’s start things off right by choosing a relationship with God. Allow Him to lead you to – and through – the waters. When you make Him your choice, you’ll always be choosing life.