Tag Archives: choice

Lent, pt. 2

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1. Lent is a choice.

No one can make me more holy.

No organization can make me a better person.

No ritual or habit will improve my standing with God.

2. It was my choice to observe Lent this year.

I thought that I might feel differently than I did before Lent.

Sure, it is only day 2 but there is no difference in today or any other Thursday.

Feelings. Can’t really trust them. I feel the same.

Choices and emotions. 

They do go together but in a certain order.

It seems to me that living for God and following Jesus involves both; choice and emotion.

I think that I need to choose the right thing and then I will feel the right thing.

Restated, choosing right brings right feelings.

I made some choices based on feelings today.

I think that tomorrow will bring more opportunities to make choices.

And I am going to make them based on truth and faith, not feelings.

Or at least I am going to try.

Chin up friend, seek God first (choice) and all these things (emotion) will be added to you.

Good night and God bless!

 

A Call and a Choice

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Before I jump into this post, can I ask a favor? Please read the story of Abraham in Genesis 12-25. It will provide the backdrop for what I am writing today.

Today, let’s zoom in on one chapter today. This has to be one of my favorite (yet humbling) passages of scripture. To describe it seems pointless. Just read it. In fact, I am going to copy in this post with some additional thoughts or questions. Anything I add will be underlined and the rest is the text from Genesis 22: 1-19 from the New International Version.

Ready? I hope so because God wants to speak to you and I through his word.

Genesis 22: 1-14

1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied. When God calls your name, what is your response?

2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3Early, (Abrahams didn’t wait. He obeyed.) the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. Why wait? Start obeying today. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham believed that they would come back. What is your attitude in the middle of a test?

6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. (Take what you can. What you don’t have, God will provide) As the two of them went on together,

7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (Who or what is your Isaac? Is there anything that competes with God for first place in your life?)

10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

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13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a rama caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” (Success! Now, who gets the glory?)

Abraham had a choice. God had called Abraham. God had also promised Abraham (in previous chapters). Isaac was the key to those promises. So Abraham had a choice.

You and I also have a choice.

I listed six practical applications that I found from the text. May God give you the strength and courage to make the right choice in your life. God bless you!

Keep Listening vs. 1

Act Promptly vs. 3

Adjust Attitude vs. 5

Prepare Accordingly vs. 6

Follow Through vs. 9-10

Give Glory vs. 14

Exiled! part 1

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Have you ever been exiled? I know, not a word we use in everyday speech so here is the Merriam-Webster definition:

Full Definition of exile

  1. 1a:  the state or a period of forced absence from one’s country or home 1b :  the state or a period of voluntary absence from one’s country or home
  2. 2:  a person who is in exile

 

Last week, in my post 3 small simple words, I briefly mentioned Jeremiah 29:11. It was in reference to popular verses in the Bible. Let’s zoom out and start at the beginning of the chapter. Here are the first 3 verses:

“1This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:”

Can we put ourselves in the place of the Israelites? They were not in their homeland. And I don’t think they were camping for the weekend either! Check out the map;

exile route

They most likely had feelings of anger, frustration, fatigue and a whole host of others. And to top it off, they knew they were God’s chosen people! How could God let this happen!?!? Did he not love them enough to destroy the enemy and bring them home? Of course God can do it for he can do anything. But that is not the point. The people of God were exiled because the rebelled against God. Sin was the reason. We see this pattern in the Old Testament frequently. The people of God rebel and backslide. Bad things happen. Then, through a leader, judge, prophet or an event, the people humble themselves and God restores them. In this particular instance, God uses the exile to discipline the Israelites.

Fast forward to 2016. Are you in a state of exile? Are you far from your home? I am not really speaking literally now although that could be the case. Is your heart far from God? Do you feel as if you are living under the control of an evil ruler? Is your life forced upon you rather than you living free?

You see, sin will exile you from God. It separates us, the created, from God, our Creator. Our choices can affect our standing with God. We can consistently choose to keep sin between us and God. That is living in exile. There are also times, perhaps, when we are the victim of other people’s choices. Life clocks us up side the head. More feelings of exile. Overall, living in exile seems to be more common than living in true freedom!

So what do we do? If I find I am living in exile, what can I do? The answer will have to wait until next week. but I do have one final thought for you.

Verse 4 says, “4This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:”

Read it again.

One more time.

“to all those I carried…”

Even when sin or circumstance sends you into exile, God is really not that far off. In fact, if God did not want you to be in exile He could stop it. But he loves us so much that He gave us free will. We get to choose whether or not we will love Him or hate Him. Serve Him or deny Him.

His arms are big. He can carry the entire human race. We just need to choose Him and not exile.

Be encouraged, God loves you. Until next week.