Decisions, Decisions,
Decisions
“Behold, I set before you
this day a blessing and a curse;
A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD
your God, which I command you this day: 28And a curse, if ye
will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28
Most of us have discovered that life
is full of choices and options. In fact, we like options. Statistics show that you will make anywhere
from 300 to thousands of choices and decisions each day (many of them
subconscious, many of them conscious. Gas Station, Starbuck’s, Baskin Robbins Flavors, Toothpastes, and
Shampoos are but a few of the decisions that we will make on a consistent
basis. By the way, Revlon has 158 colors
of lipstick.
There is a story about a man named
Fred who inherited $10 million, but the will required that he had to accept it
either in Chile or Brazil. He chose Brazil. Unhappily it turned out
that in Chile
he would have received his inheritance in land on which uranium, gold, and
silver had just been discovered. He had the opportunity to choose his
inheritance in coffee or nuts. He chose the nuts. Too bad! The bottom fell out
of the nut market, and coffee went up to $1.30 a pound wholesale, unroasted.
Poor Fred lost everything he had to his name. He went out and sold his solid
gold watch for the money he needed to fly home.
It seems that he had enough for a ticket to either New
York or Boston.
He chose Boston. When the plane for New York taxied up he noticed it was a
brand-new super 747 jet with red carpets and chic people and wine-popping
hostesses. The plane for Boston
then arrived. It was a 1928 Ford tri-motor with a sway back and it took a full
day to get off the ground. It was filled with crying children and tethered
goats. Over the Andes, one of the engines fell
off. Our man Fred made his way up to the captain and said, "I’m a jinx on
this plane. Let me out if you want to save your lives. Give me a
parachute." The pilot agreed, but added, "On this plane, anybody who
bails out must wear two parAchutes." So Fred jumped out of the plane, and
as he fell dizzily through the air he tried to make up his mind which ripcord
to pull. Finally he chose the one on the left. It was rusty and the wire pulled
loose. So he then pulled the other
handle. This chute opened, but its shroud lines snapped. In desperation, the
poor fellow cried out, "St. Francis save me!" A great hand from
heaven reached down and seized the poor fellow by the wrist and let him dangle
in midair. Then a gentle but inquisitive voice asked, "St. Francis Xavier
or St. Francis of Assisi?"
You first question you want to ask in
order to make right choices is, “What does God say?” When it comes down to it, you have
two options in life for what’s going to be your authority. You will either say, “I’m going to get my
authority from the world.”Or “I’m going to get my authority from the
Word.” The world is always changing it’s
opinion about what is right and wrong…fads change all the time. But God’s word is unchanging. The Bible says, “Heaven and earth will pass
away but my Word will never pass away.”It’s God’s eternal word and these never
change
God has designed the universe, built
on certain spiritual, moral, and physical laws and that’s how the universe
operates. You know some of the physical laws. The
law of gravity meaning “what goes up, must come down.” The law of thermonuclear dynamics meaning
“everything is winding down in the universe.”. There are other laws, both moral
and spiritual laws, that are just as true. If we operate by these laws, our
lives will be blessed. If we ignore these laws, we ignore them to our detriment
and we get hurt when we ignore what God has set up in the universe.
When we cooperate with what God says,
we bring blessing to our lives. When we ignore what God says, we have
tremendous problems. Just before entering into the Promised Land, God made it
clear the path that lay before the Israelites. He said, ““Behold, I set before you this day a blessing
and a curse; A
blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you
this day: And
a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) Good
choices will bring a good future and bad choice will bring a bad one. You don’t have to understand why God
tells you to do something to benefit from it…you only have to obey it. When we do, blessings will follow. When it comes down to it, the choice is
yours.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Recall a time when you made a bad decision
and it brought problems and a good decisions that brought blessings
2) What change is God calling you to make in
your life to find renewed blessing?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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