August 1st, 2023
Did you know that the average adult makes an astonishing 35,000 choices a day? Some are made more consciously than others, but our lives are full of decisions. There are minor decisions that don’t seem to have long-term effects (like choosing to press snooze a few times in the morning) and major decisions that have the power to change the course of our lives. However, every decision we make matters. If you’ve already made the decision to give your life to Christ, then you’ve come into the family of God. That’s the first choice we have to make! By His sacrifice, we are made righteous, but we then have to choose to submit ourselves to that righteousness in order to be made like Him. We’re saved by the blood of Jesus, but we have to choose to follow Him in order to live like Him. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome,
"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? … For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification." (Romans 6:16 and 19)
As believers, we should be submitted to the righteousness of Jesus in every decision that we make. Every day, we have the power to choose to be made more like Him or to feed our fleshly nature and that’s not a New Testament reality!
The power of choice is a gift the Father gave humanity, from the beginning. When He put Adam and Eve in the garden, He very intentionally gave them a choice. He provided everything they needed; loved them; and walked with them, but He also placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden. The power to choose is what makes us human.
God made this clear to His people after they had come out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says,
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holdingmfast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live. The scripture then tells us how: Love Him. Obey Him. Hold fast to Him. Choosing to love and walk with God is choosing to live! In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is life.
Adam and Eve chose disobedience and ultimately death. They didn’t realize the consequences of that decision, but the choice set before them was life or death, and that same choice has been set before every human being that has ever walked the earth. The Bible says, “we have all fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23), so we have all chosen death at some point. Sin is simply disobedience to the will of the Father, and it leads to bondage, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Only in Jesus do we get to choose life. That’s a choice to accept Him, but it’s also a choice we have to continue to make every single day! We are made perfect in the sight of God by the blood of Jesus, but it’s only walking in obedience to His word that sanctifies us. Romans 12:2 says,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Many people struggle with the idea of obedience because they believe they’re losing the power to choose, but that’s a lie. We will never know freedom until we walk in obedience. You are always obedient to something, whether that be sin or the word of God. Are you a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness? Romans 8:3-6 says,
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” We are renewed, transformed, and filled with life as we grow and learn to walk in agreement with the Father, like Jesus did. Every decision we make to be obedient to His Word makes us more like Him! In that truth will flow life, healing, emotional freedom, hope, and joy. It’s only by walking in agreement with the Holy Spirit that we can obey and when you understand how much He loves you, obedience is easy. Everything God does is for our good and His glory. Jesus gave us the highest example of perfect obedience as He laid down His life in agreement with the Father’s purpose. The Son of God chose death on a cross, so we could choose life in Him!
"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? … For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification." (Romans 6:16 and 19)
As believers, we should be submitted to the righteousness of Jesus in every decision that we make. Every day, we have the power to choose to be made more like Him or to feed our fleshly nature and that’s not a New Testament reality!
The power of choice is a gift the Father gave humanity, from the beginning. When He put Adam and Eve in the garden, He very intentionally gave them a choice. He provided everything they needed; loved them; and walked with them, but He also placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden. The power to choose is what makes us human.
God made this clear to His people after they had come out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says,
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holdingmfast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live. The scripture then tells us how: Love Him. Obey Him. Hold fast to Him. Choosing to love and walk with God is choosing to live! In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is life.
Adam and Eve chose disobedience and ultimately death. They didn’t realize the consequences of that decision, but the choice set before them was life or death, and that same choice has been set before every human being that has ever walked the earth. The Bible says, “we have all fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23), so we have all chosen death at some point. Sin is simply disobedience to the will of the Father, and it leads to bondage, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Only in Jesus do we get to choose life. That’s a choice to accept Him, but it’s also a choice we have to continue to make every single day! We are made perfect in the sight of God by the blood of Jesus, but it’s only walking in obedience to His word that sanctifies us. Romans 12:2 says,
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Many people struggle with the idea of obedience because they believe they’re losing the power to choose, but that’s a lie. We will never know freedom until we walk in obedience. You are always obedient to something, whether that be sin or the word of God. Are you a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness? Romans 8:3-6 says,
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” We are renewed, transformed, and filled with life as we grow and learn to walk in agreement with the Father, like Jesus did. Every decision we make to be obedient to His Word makes us more like Him! In that truth will flow life, healing, emotional freedom, hope, and joy. It’s only by walking in agreement with the Holy Spirit that we can obey and when you understand how much He loves you, obedience is easy. Everything God does is for our good and His glory. Jesus gave us the highest example of perfect obedience as He laid down His life in agreement with the Father’s purpose. The Son of God chose death on a cross, so we could choose life in Him!
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