“Choice”....the Wayfarer 1/17/16

“Choice”
1/17/16

“Thou art the Lord God, who didst choose Abraham, and broughtest him forth out of Ur, of the Chaldees and gavest him the name Abraham;

And foundest  his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:”

(Nehemiah 9:7&8)

Just as God made choices of whom He would bless, and from whom He would withhold those blessings, those to be given longer lives, and those whose lives must be shortened, He still makes choices constantly based on whether or not His will is being obeyed, or disobeyed.

We too have been created creatures of free will, in His Image, and are allowed to make our own choices, both those that are pleasing to Him, and those that invoke His wrath.

All choice results from conscious decision, both by God Himself, and by us as well.

 It is these choices that direct our lives, and determine not only that direction, but destination as well.

“ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

In that I command thee this day to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing,: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them.”

(Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

As the Israelites were given a choice as this was originally written, so too are we given those same choices offered them.

God continues to set apart His people, and to allow them to make the choice to BE His people, obey His will and follow the plan set before them, that will in turn glorify and please Him, or to ignore his will, and seek the glorification for themselves, ignoring the offered blessings, intending to attain those blessings by their own hand, (which is impossible), and following their own devices, which inevitably must lead to the other option of curse and death.

“Furthermore, Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, that ye have knowledge.

For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.

Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.”

(Job 34:1-4)

These words, taken from another of my favorite books, were spoken out of ignorance, by Elihu, who wrongly accused Job.

Yet and still they are pertinent to us today!  The choice of knowing that which is good and that which is not, is a choice given each of us.

Far too many, like Elihu, make the wrong choices, looking only at the physical world and its allures, instead of looking more deeply into where those allures lead.

Poison can be quite pretty and seductive, as are the promises made by men who ignore the will of God, fail to give Him credit for any true blessing, and attempt to replace them with the shiny, worthless and damning allures that provide them with temporary power and gratification.

“Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

For thy name’s sake, O lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”

(Psalm 25:8-13)

Though we are all born sinners, we still have the capability to learn; still have the ability to recognize what is truly good… and what is good must begin with God himself!

For our part, we must first be humble enough, (meek), to recognize that without His instruction, we are incapable of knowing what is good, and will choose evil by following our own path instead of the WAY given us.

If we choose that WAY we will find the mercy offered and the TRUTH which leads to having the promised blessings and LIFE.

The 11^th verse of this Psalm shows the need for the required repentance to attain redemption.

 The need to recognize our own iniquity and ask for that pardon is the required first step toward that redemption, the only way to find the promised ease, and the only hope that is given us through the new Covenant of salvation through the sacrifice of, and belief in Christ Jesus!

“What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whither in pretence, or in truth is Christ preached: and I therein do rejoice, yea and will rejoice.

For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: wet what I shall choose I wot not.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better;

Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.”

(Philippians 1:18-26)

If we truly follow Christ, we too should be able to state what Paul stated here!

We have to choose between living in the flesh, which gains us only the fruits of our labor here, or living to the glorification of Christ Jesus and reaping the rewards to be given for an eternity, and leading to giving others that same opportunity to share in our joy and faith.

All choice must begin with comprehension of, and, adherence to the simple message of redemption through repentance given by our Master Himself

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

That repentance is the first choice that must be made, and followed continually if we are to make proper choices in our lives.

I close, as always, with the love of my Redeemer for all, nothing more than a simple sinner that He chose to save by grace through my faith in Him.

I choose to also remain the soldier He chose me to be, ever striving to meet the requirements of that service looking forward to the day that service continues far beyond this earthly plane.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer