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| HOME/////////////////////////// Choices Chocolate or Vanilla? Red or blue? Louder or softer? Salty or sweet? Choices, choices, choices. Since childhood we are given choices. We learn from choices. We learn from mistakes made by choices. We suffer from choices made. We are victorious because of choices ... chosen. We grow up - or don't grow up - because of our choices. Our choices. Ours for the choosing. I heard something once that sunk into my soul -- " 'Acceptance' paves the way to influence!" What will we do or not do ... what will we choose or not choose - in order to be accepted?! To choose or not to choose * that is the question. Acceptance paves the way to influence. How many times have I in my life been influenced by others, by situations, by decisions just for the sake of being accepted? ... or for the sake of getting my way? .... or for the sake of laziness? .... or for the sake of greediness? ... or for the sake of jealousy? ... or for the sake of anger and resentment? .... or for the sake of whatever the reason? But for whatever the reason, it was my choice. It was almost always because of what I chose - not someone else. My choice! I was able to pick and choose. Some choices were good. Many, many were so very bad. But they were mine. My choices. What freedom we have in choices. What ties we bind with our choices. Which do we choose? Acrostic: C - CREATE. What do we in our choices? .... Romans 6:12-16 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" Romans 12:1-2 "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
HABITS. Which kind do we choose? .... 1 Peter 3:8-12 "To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For 'Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile, and let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.' "
O - OFFER. What choices should we choose to offer? .... Galatians 5:16-17 "But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." I - I ... choose. My choice. Mine .... Romans 7:14-25 "For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage of sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."
C - CONSEQUENCES. Yes, that's what happens because of what we choose. .... Hebrews 12:5-11 "And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.' It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
E - ETERNAL LIFE. Our choice. The most important choice we will ever make. .... Singer / Songwriter Nicole Nordeman sings it this way .... One choice One lie One great regret One hope One bridge between then and now One tree Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned." Romans 5:8-10 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him." Acts 4:10-12 "Let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead .... He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
S - SOLUTION. There is one and it begins with how we think .... Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinks within himself, so he is. ...." 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Colossians 3:1-2 "If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."
CHOICES. Mine. Yours. What will ours be? ... Blessings !! Amen? AMEN! Kelli |
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