The Choices We Make

Do you ever regret doing or saying something? I know I do...
There are many mistakes that I’ve made along life’s mysterious journey. There are some things I wish could take back or have the chance to think and pray about before making  decisions. 


God loves you and me and He wants the best for us. But He gives us the chance and the opportunity to make a choice. God gives us freewill and he wants it that way. Otherwise, we would be robots to His “plan” and wouldn’t really love Him. We would be, so to speak, programmed to love Him. And that’s not what He wants. He wants to give us a choice… to love Him or not to love Him… to make the right choice or not to make the right choice. 

We are given the opportunity to make choices every minute of everyday. Whatever we’re doing, you have to make a choice. “Should I say this?” “Should I help that person?” “Should I think those thoughts?” “Should I listen or ignore my parents…?” These are just some of the thousands of questions that race through our minds everyday. If we can learn to stop what we’re doing and listen to what would be the right thing to do, then I think our lives would be much easier and peaceful. And just like anything else, the more you do something the easier and more natural it becomes. 

But on the other hand… if there are things in your life that you can’t erase can’t get ride of… there is hope and there is forgiveness. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to live with the realization that because of your decision someone is forever gone… or forever in pain… or forever changed. I’ve heard of stories where the choices of someone changed their life forever in a way they never thought would be possible. One of the major problems is pre-marital sex. I’ve heard of teens who will never be a teenager again… all because of one small decision. That decision forced them into parenthood way too soon. Now, they must live with either their new life as a parent or attempt to return back to the teenager life by either ignoring or killing the baby. But the truth of the matter is they will never return to the teenager life… once you’ve stepped foot into that, you will never return. I’ve also heard of people who think that murder is the answer. But that is far from the truth. It will only kill you inside and haunt you. I’ve heard of people using drugs to help them or relive stress or pain. But it does just the opposite. Yeah, it may help at first… but those drugs will eat you from the inside out. 

You see how the decisions we make could turn the tables upside down? One small choice of living in sexual immorality… one small choice of letting hate and greed take over… one small choice of taking those drugs… could ultimately destroy you. 

But as with everything else in life, there is always an answer and always a way out. Whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re struggling with… you don’t have to worry because there is always hope. Don’t listen to the world when they say something is just hopeless or you’ve reached a dead end. There is never a dead end. Even when you die, it’s not a dead end. There is life after this life… there is hope for your problems… there is comfort for your hurting. But you have to choose. You have to choose between life or death… answers or more unsolvable problems… healing or hurting. 

If you have made some major mistakes in life… don’t worry. So have I. But one thing about God that I think is amazing is his view on our sins. He doesn’t give me a little tap on the hand for something small and then give you a punch in the face for something big. That’s not how He works. He views all sin equally… so if you feel like you’ve got some major issue that you think I couldn’t even begin to understand… that’s okay. Maybe you’re right, maybe I can’t understand and maybe I won’t ever… but guess who will. God will always understand and always forgive you no matter what. It doesn’t matter how bad or how horrible what you’ve done may seem… He will erase you’re sins as far as the east is from the west. And that is something I’m 100% positive on… I promise you. 

Life is a short thing, we’re born and then we die. Someone made the choice to bring you into this world… someone else made a choice to give you eternal life… now, the most important decision you’ll ever make: Will you make the right decision and live your life for God? The past is in the past… there is nothing you can do about that… but there is something God can do about that. He can heal you from it. You can find comfort and hope in God’s forgiving love. 

In Christ's Love,

Josh

The Hidden Virtues

1 Timothy 4:12:

“Do not let anyone look down on you because you’re young, but set an example for all the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

This is a small excerpt of a letter that the apostle Paul sent to his pupil Timothy, who had found himself in authority of the church at a young age. This is an encouragement and challenge for Timothy, as well as young people today who give in to the negative prejudices and low expectations of their elders. But there is something else hidden within this passage that I think is equally important.

When reading the Bible, it's good to try to apply it to our lives, but when we get to this verse we’ll find ourselves in a small predicament. Paul gives us five virtues to exemplify in our lives: speech, life, love, faith and purity. How on earth does one apply speech and life to his… well, life? To find the answer we must look at the other virtues love, faith and purity.

There is one thing that love, faith and purity have in common: they are all something that people have tried to attain, but have failed to. You may respond, “I love lots of people!” or “I have been faithful in my walk God!” I understand, and if you’re that person, kudos. However, what we have attained is not true love, faith or purity, but merely a reflection of them. True purity, is being completely untainted by any evil lusts. True faith is complete trust in God, wholly given to him. True love is utter disregard for oneself in devotion to another. Only one man in all history has had all of these consistantly throughout his life: Jesus Christ. This is true with all virtues, they simply cannot be attained by man. But life and speech can right? Well, not like Paul was talking about.

You see I think that Paul wasn’t talking about life or speech in general, but a true life and speech that we cannot attain in this life. An untainted life and speech that we must strive for, but can never achieve. This a quality of life that we will only fully enjoy if we enter heaven and are made perfect again, but we can still have a reflection of them in our earthly lives. True life isn’t just doing good things (virtues like love, faith and purity) but how you do them. You have to do them with satisfaction, and with a good attitude. You can’t just say the right things and have true speech, you must say it with the kindness and gentleness of Christ. How and what are equally important, so live your life with the joy, confidence, peace and satisfaction that God wants us to have.

            In Christ's love, Aaron.