Choices

Choices

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Jeff Armbrester

Life is filled choices. We must choose when to go to bed and when to get up. What to eat and what not to eat. What to wear and what not to wear. We choose what to do with our time. We choose where we’ll go to work and where we’ll go out to eat. Life is filled with choices.

Some choices are easy to make. Some are difficult.

The greatest gift which God in His bounty bestowed in creating, and the most conformed to His own goodness, and that which He prizes the most, was the freedom of the will, with which the creatures that have intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed.

~ Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto V). Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 6.

Every choice I make today impacts my life tomorrow.

· Finances

· Eating

· Health

· Use of Time

· Relationships

· Spirituality – eternity

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (New Living Translation)

11“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform. 12It is not up in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go to heaven and bring it down so we can hear and obey it?’ 13It is not beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear and obey it?’ 14The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

15“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. 16I have commanded you today to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 17But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

19“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! 20Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The most important choice I will make is between life and death. (30:15, 20)

Every decision we make in life is based upon this decision.

Choosing life means choosing to worship and obey God.

Choosing death means rejecting God and spending eternity in hell.

Three Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Choosing not to choose.

2 Samuel 13 & 14 is the story of King David not dealing with a horrible situation among his children.

· Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar

· Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, murdered Amnon because David did nothing

· Absalom rebelled against King David

Choosing not to choose creates the possibility of making bad choices.

Choosing not to choose is the wrong choice.

2. Choosing to procrastinate.

Acts 24 Paul comes before Felix, the Governor over Judea. He tells Felix about his relationship with Jesus and who Jesus is. After much discussion about faith in Christ, Felix told Paul, “Go away for now. When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again.” (24:25)

Hard decisions do not go away. Important decisions do not resolve themselves. Putting off until tomorrow what should be decided today is not a good way to handle the issues of life.

3. Choosing to listen to ungodly advice.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives us a warning: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33; NKJV)

I make the right choices when I…

Seek out godly counsel.

Proverbs 15:22 (NKJV)

Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors, they are established.

Pray about the choice to be made.

Jesus praying all night before big decisions in the Gospel of Luke

Trust God with the results.