Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A world of choices...

You wake up each day and you make a decision.
Regular or Decaf?
Cereal of pancakes?
Milk or juice?

These decisions are very minor in the greater scheme of things.
We don't realize how many decisions we make on a daily basis. Do you ever stop to think how many of those decisions have "eternal" consequences?

Shall I cuss and display my anger or shall I control my tongue and let my disposition be a pleasing one in the sight of God?
Shall I look at that pretty girl and allow lustful thoughts to come into my head, or should I look away and cling to God's Word?
Should I take that pen from work because I need one, or should I go to the store and do the right thing?
Should I do what my parents say to do, even though I don't agree with them, or should I just do what "I" want to do?

God's Word will give you the answers. We had an interesting conversation last night. It was concerning the youth. The youth leader is right in telling the kids to look things up in the Bible. But the question that comes to mind is this...
How are youth, who are not familiar with the Bible, going to be able to look things up if they don't know "how" or "where" to look?

If you have kids, grandkids or are a youth leader yourself...
take time to teach those kids "how" to look things up in the Bible. Teach them how to "cross-reference" verses within the Bible. Teach them how to use the concordance and dictionary aids in the back of the Bible. Show them the maps and what each one means. Prepare and outline for them to follow and train them in God's Holy Word. We can do all of this, but it is so very important that when we teach kids about God's Word, that we are "living" God's Word. They need to be able to see that He lives within us. We need to be sure that we have displayed ourselves as being godly and not worldly.

Let no filthy language come out of your mouth.
Forgive others.
Love always.
Help others and always do good.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Be a person of integrity. be the same person whether someone is watching you or not!

The choice is yours. You can either choose to follow God or you can choose to follow the ways of the world.

Just remember...
there are consequences for the choices we make. Are you prepared to face your consequences?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Haha... or for me for the last few weeks when I get up in the morning... eat or puke. I ALWAYS have to use the rest room REALLY bad in the morning (and it's like 100x worse since being pregnant)... but the problem is that I HAVE to eat first, because if I get up on an empty stomach, I will throw up. Weird, huh?

Not to ruin a really great post, I just thought I would add that little thing in there.

I need to work better on making the decision to hold my tongue in my anger instead of lashing out. It's been a struggle because of the environment I was raised in. Please pray that the Lord will help me in this area. It's a huge downfall, and are main cause of arguments in our marriage :(

pastorbrianculver said...

Hi Jessie! You have my prayers and I am sure there are others here who will be praying for you as well. Recognizing the "cause" of your fights is a great first step in stopping them. How is the baby doing? When was the last time you went to the doctor? Things are coming along pretty well here for us. Diana and I do plan to come up there next summer to see the three of you! God bless

Unknown said...

The baby HATES me! He/she keeps making me sicker than a dog. I've lost weight, but for the past few days I've been able to eat more and more, so hopefully that will continue. We would LOVE to see you guys next year! That would be awesome!