Faltering In Our Beliefs

It is a hard life to be an indecisive person, always struggling over choices and decisions. These people tend to waiver even after they have decided, doubting the choice they did make and if it would have been better to have chosen differently. It reminds me of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken":

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth."

You notice the title is not "The Road Taken" but "The Road Not Taken". Obviously the emphasis was on the thought of the path that he did not choose, wondering, speculating. We are this way with so much in our lives. Perhaps not to the point of being indecisive but often times regretting not having made decisions differently.

Sometimes such an attitude hampers us in the decisions we have made and so we only put a partial effort into the journey we are on. We are robbing ourselves of the glory of the path we have taken. The worse of it is when we try to take both paths and make a mess out of everything. Throughout the Scriptures we are told to make a decision about who we will serve because, as the apostle Paul said, we will end up serving something.

We all remember the famous "As for me and my family" speech from Joshua and it is spot on. Make a decision people, who will you serve: Yahweh or some other god? Make a decision and give it your full effort. Some of you may protest and say that we are not to put in an effort, that it is all by Yahweh's grace. Salvation is by his grace but our walk with Jesus is with effort and determination. Yes, his grace covers us when we falter but if we do not understand our responsibility in the relationship we will do more than falter, we will drop off. We need to be determined every day to choose Jesus, to walk in his ways (directions, commands, instructions, laws), to not fear and trust him for all we need, to spend time in relationship building (prayer, worship, Bible study), and to carry out the mission (to make disciples).

Yet, Joshua's speech is not the only example of being told we must make a decision. Examples are scattered throughout the Word. One is found in 1 Kings 18:

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing. (v. 21)

Elijah was fearless and bold in demonstrating to the people that, although there was a choice, there was only one that was obvious. But people do not like choosing Yahweh, even with the promise of eternity because of the intimacy of the accountability. They would rather find a system that would demand less out of them; something that would benefit them but with low risk, low cost and low effort. We are such a lazy people.

Jesus told us that we would have a choice and that he had come for those who would make the decision to believe the good news he was revealing. It's a decision. We can choose to stay as we are,  in our rebellion and be slaves to sin or we could choose to accept the loving relationship with Yahweh and be slaves to righteousness. Paul used the term slave to describe something with a term that we could understand because it is hard to translate the spiritual into a language the non-spiritual may comprehend. When we make a decision for Jesus we are compelled to walk in righteousness in the same way we were compelled to walk in sin without him.

Now let's be clear on this, we can't serve two masters. We can't choose two paths. You can't choose Jesus and still do whatever you want. There is a distinct way of living when we choose Jesus and many of us are choosing with our mouth but our heart still belongs to the other path. It can't be made any clearer than this: when you choose Jesus you let everything else go and you give yourself completely to his path. You don't get to argue and negotiate certain aspects with him. It is like when Moses presented everything to the people of Israel and then told them to choose. Jesus told us to count the cost, check out what you are agreeing to. Yahweh hides nothing but he says that if we are to follow him these are his clear expectations and demands of those he calls his children. It is not a free for all.

Salvation is by grace but the rest of it gets worked out in us daily as we are transformed by the Spirit, transformed with an obedient and willing heart. Too many of us are choosing with our mouth only but it also requires a belief of action in our hearts. The question is simple: who will you serve? Which path do you choose? What is your decision?

Choices

"But if you don’t want to worship the Lord, then choose right now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you’re living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you’ll worship their gods. I won’t. My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord!" Joshua 24:15 CEV

We have a choice. Christianity cannot be legislated. No government can adopt it and then force their citizens to believe. No one can be forced to believe anything. Don't look back to the past, see Christianity forced upon the masses and think "the good old days". They were the worse days of Christianity, the birth of a religion instead of the growth of the Body.

God never forced anyone to worship him. He did not manipulate or coerce. He wants worshipers who have freely chosen him but he won't put upwith false worship either. He has dealt with those who worship him with their lips but acted differently in private. He has also explained the blessings of worship and the curses of going our own way. He has explained the curse of our sinful nature and his desire to free us from it. But he has always left it up to us to decide.

In recent years we are seeing the false testimony of our society falling away and the true nature being revealed. It is only natural that those who have decided against Jesus to gravitate to and support rebellion produced in their sinful nature. Of course we are seeing sin being called natural and beautiful. Come on now, it is the nature of this world and our society.

The question is, what decision will you make in the face of the rebellion all around us? Will you choose the idols of this world and throw yourself at the feet of money, fame, false security? Will you worship the gods of this land, as is natural to the sinful nature, the rebellion we were all born into? Or will you choose the Lord Jesus Christ, who has called us out from this rebellion and into his peace?

Take note of Joshua's words: to worship and obey the Lord! We all love the worship part, it makes us feel good, but it is the obedience that we must focus on. "If you love me you will do what I have said" stated Jesus. Do you love him enough to make a choice, to take a stand and accept that nothing in this world holds any value or wisdom for you? Do not seek anything in this world but always seek what you need (physical, mental, spiritual) from the great provider himself. And remember, his provision is to equip you in this place for his work.

We are not here to grow fat and lazy. We can choose to if we want but it is not his purpose for us and Jesus warned us what will happen if we decide to seek for ourselves instead of others. So yes, you have the freedom to choose but choices have consequences.

What Controls You?

We have a choice. That's what amazes me about what Jesus did: He gave us the freedom to be able to make a choice. Before, when we were enslaved by our sin nature, we were stuck. We could make no choice, but now we can. We can choose not to sin. Think about it for a moment.

There are a lot of choices we make in a day and not all of us are wise in what we choose. We can choose to shut off our computer and go to bed on time so we will be well rested in the morning. We can choose to eat right and exercise so our bodies function properly. We can choose to actually study and get good grades. We can choose to bless the company we work for, to give our very best and lend to its success. We can choose to trust Jesus, to push away worry and fear, and accept his gift of peace. But we are not always wise.

No one holds a gun to our head and forces us to stay up late. That is a choice. No one shoves junk food down our throat and ties us on the sofa. That is a choice. No one steals our text books from us or threatens us to goof off in class. That's a choice. No one pulls our strings to bad mouth our work place or to cut corners, slacking off. That's a choice. No one is closing our ears and heart to Jesus and inviting worry and fear in. That's a choice.

We have the freedom to choose and if we chose to be controlled by the Spirit things would look much different in our lives. Listen to the simplicity of this:

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

We can word it like this: "Do not be filled by the world. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Perhaps no one explained that to you. In this place, on this earth, in our society, being filled by the Spirit is the only way we can survive. Without him we do not have Jesus. We are to be filled by him, led by him, taught by him and controlled by him. Why do we ignore the one who is so important to our survival with Jesus in this place?

Jesus left this place, returned to the Father, so that he could send the Spirit, so we could receive him, be filled by him, and know the presence of Jesus, in each of us. By the Spirit Jesus lives in us. By the Spirit we are taught the things of God. By the Spirit we understand the Word. By the Spirit we are equipped to serve. By the Spirit we are supernatural, with supernatural gifts. By the Spirit we are empowered to take on the enemy and win. By the Spirit we are able to worship, pray and battle. By the Spirit we are sealed. By the Spirit we have a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

So we have a choice: We can be filled by the things of "pleasure found in this world, things that destroy and lead to death, or, we can be filled by the Spirit of God through whom we receive all the things made available to us by Jesus. There is no one to blame for our choices. We can's say that the devil made us do it. It didn't work for Eve, it won't work for us. We can't say that we were too weak. Jesus has made us strong. We can't say we are products of our society. We were rescued from that. No, we were saved from slavery so we could make a choice. It is always about choice. Who will you choose to serve today? What will you be filled with today? What will you allow to control you?