January 19, 2015

Choices

 

The sluggard craves and gets nothing,

but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

-- Proverbs 13:4

We all have choices to make each day. Those choices have consequences, both for ourselves and for those around us. We all have to live with those consequences. There's no going back and doing things differently for any of us.

Every day we have a choice to make the right decisions for our own health. They are our choices to make. We can choose to eat healthy, exercise and stay away from candy and soda. Or we can choose to sit in a recliner, watching television and eating fast food and chocolate. Again, it's our choice.

But here's the thing: When your health fails because of your choices, you don't get to blame someone else. You don't get to moan over your misfortune. You don't get to lie and claim to have behaved differently. You get to face the consequences, right along with all the rest of us who are forced to face consequences because of your decisions.

It sounds so hard. I know. I am not without guilt. I have made my own choices, some of them really bad, and am living with the consequences of those. We all are, whether we admit it or not.

It's like with salvation. We either admit that we need Jesus, that we are sentenced to eternal hell without Him, or we make the choice to reject Him. It's our choice. God gave us the right to make that choice. But you don't get to blame Him or anyone else if you get to the end of your life and realize you made the wrong choice.

Don't worry. As long as you're alive, you still have time to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. But when are you going to die? Most of us really don't know. It's difficult to know if you've waited until the last moment until it's too late.

Isn't that how it is with most bad choices? We think they're the right ones. We want to live life our way and we criticize and badmouth anyone who says differently. Until the consequences hit us full force. Then we'd do anything to go back, but it really is too late. All we can do is start anew where we are, being thankful that God has given us another chance.