Choose Life

Psalm 119:^29-30 “Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.”

Deuteronomy 30:^17-19 “But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods, you will be destroyed. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing or curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life!” (TEV, emphasis added). We see clearly that Heaven and Earth are watching the choices you are making. God says choose life, and that is huge. It is like God has given us an exam with two options A is life and success, B is death and destruction. And God is right there telling us the answer; He is whispering choose A, choose life.

The choices you make are so powerful and they determine the life you live. In fact, the ability to choose is one of the greatest gifts that God has given to man. If you do not like the life you are living currently, you can change it completely by the things you choose. I can tell you stories of times in my life when I got to a point where I did not like what I was seeing. There are times where I have prayed and fasted, and heaven says, ‘What are you going to do about it? Are you going to keep praying and fasting, or are you going to take action?’ I get that a lot of us have been hurt, people have done things to us life has dealt you a tough blow, you have been born into an unprivileged family, and the list goes on and on. If no one has said this to you before, I want to say sorry.

However, I must also tell you that what happens to you in life is not nearly as important as the way you choose to respond to it. The blows you have been dealt were tough and I am sorry about that. But the blows you have been dealt will not determine the destiny you will live. You may have been abused and I am truly sorry you had to go through that. But the fact that you were abused can never determine the future you will live. Similarly, the mistakes you have made cannot determine the future you will have. So, what is the determining factor? It is what you do from now on that determines what becomes of you.

The truth is that the choices you make are far more important in shaping your life than your circumstances. The things that happen to you really cannot determine your future. It is the choices you make based on what has happened to you. Two people can go through the same thing; while one comes out on top, the other is buried. It has nothing to do with luck, it is the choices they made. The difference between Saul and David, what made the difference in their destinies, was the choices each man made.

Prayer: Father, I choose You and I choose to be faithful to You, I choose the life You have for Me, in Jesus Name. Amen!