MAKE RIGHT AND WISE CHOICES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2020.

SUBJECT : MAKE RIGHT AND WISE CHOICES!

Memory verse: “And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

 (Joshua 24 vs 15.) 

READ: First Chronicles 21 vs 9 - 13:

21:9: Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,
21:10: “Go and tell David, saying, “Thus saith the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.
21:11: So Gad came to David and said unto him, “Thus said the LORD, ‘Choose for yourself
21:12: either three years of famine; or three months to be destroyed before your foes, with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD—the plague in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

21:13: And David said to Gad, “I am in a great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

INTIMATION:

All of us make hundreds of choices every day. Most choices have no right or wrong attached to them—like what you wear or what you eat. But we always face decisions that carry a little more weight. We don’t want to do wrong, and we don’t want to cause others to do wrong, so how can we make such decisions? Right and wise choices made in accordance with God’s laws, which is His will. God has, in His Word, defined the right and wise path of life for us. Still God gives us choices, and we, too, often choose wrongly. These wrong choices may cause pain, but they can help us learn and grow and make better choices in future. Living with the consequences of our choices teaches us to think and choose more carefully.

Every choice for good sets in motion other opportunities for good. Evil choices follow the same pattern, but in the opposite direction. Each choice you make in obedience to God’s Word will bring a greater sense of order to your life, while each choice made in disobedience will bring confusion and destruction. The choice you make will shape your integrity. Obedient choices will bring the greatest safety and security. It is amazing that God set before the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse (Deuteronomy 30 vs 1). It is even more amazing that most of them, through disobedience, chose the curse. We have the same fundamental choice today. We can live for ourselves or live in service to God. To choose our own way is to travel on a dead-end road, but to choose God’s way is to receive eternal life (John 5 vs 24).

We must learn to make choices, not on the basis of flashy appeal or short-range pleasure, but in view of the long-range effects: having eternity with Christ in mind. When we don’t know Christ, we make choices as though there were no afterlife. In reality, this life is just the introduction to eternity. How we live this brief span determines our eternal state. What we accumulate on earth has no value in getting eternal life. Even the highest social or civic honors cannot earn us entrance into heaven. Always evaluate your lifestyle and choices from eternal perspective, and you will find your values and decisions changing.

In the passage we read today, God gave David three choices. Each was a form of punishment God had told the people what they could expect if they disobeyed His laws (plague, famine, war). David wisely chose the form of punishment that came most directly from God. He knew how brutal and harsh men in war could be, and he also knew God’s great mercy. He made the very wise and right choice to fall into the hands of ‘All-merciful’ God. This brilliant choice is for us to make today. When you sin greatly, turn back to God. To be punished by Him is far better than to take your chances without Him.

Any choices outside wise counsel of the Word of God is sinful. And sin is enticing because it offers a quick route to self-satisfaction and makes us feel like “one of the crowd.” When we go along with others and refuse to listen to the truth, our own appetites become our masters, and we’ll do anything to satisfy them. But, sin, even when attractive, is deadly. God does not usually stop us from making wrong choices. He lets us choose independence from Him, even though He knows that in time we will become slaves to our own rebellious lifestyle and lose our freedom not to sin. There is no worse slavery than slavery to sin. We can’t be friendly with sin and expect our lives to remain unaffected. Turn and run—this is not cowardly; it is extremely brave.

There are very necessary evaluations you need to make when you are making a choice. Ask yourself, “If I choose one course of action, does it: (1) help my witness for Christ Am I motivated by a desire to help others know Christ? (3) Does it help me do my best? (4) Is it against a specific command in Scripture and would thus cause me to sin? (5) Is it the best and most beneficial course of action? (6) Am I thinking only of myself, or do I truly care about the other person? (7) Am I acting lovingly or selfishly Does it glorify God? (8) Will it cause someone else to sin? Finally, the question, “What would Jesus do?” may help us make the right choices because He is never wrong.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of obedience to Your Word, that it will rule my decisions in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!