We truly live in a time where there are many choices, at least in modern countries like the United States. Having so many options can truly be a gift but it can also be a curse. Having choices can certainly be a good thing if one is always on guard that some of those choices are not good. It is kind of like muddy water. We need the water but there is a lot of stuff in muddy water that we don’t need, stuff that can even kill us. So don’t drink any muddy water and beware of enticing choices that lead to trouble or harm. Apostle Paul said it well: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” 1 Corinthians 10:23. And in 1 Corinthians 6:12: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
God never takes away our power to choose. I have had people tell me that as a Christian I have no fun. I tell them, ‘I party all I want and do anything I want but I genuinely don’t want to party or do those kinds of things’. Following Christ, being a Christian, is not burdensome at all. I don’t feel like I’m under some cruel taskmaster just waiting for me to mess up so he can send me to hell. When you are born again and as you make biblical choices it becomes more and more natural to do so. He puts a new heart within you (Ezekiel 36:26). God himself will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4). Many translate that verse as God will just give you anything you want but that isn’t what it means at all. It means he will give you the right desires to have. He will give you the desire for healthy choices mentally, physically, spiritually and socially.
God doesn’t just pound you over the head with the Ten Commandments he writes his law on your heart. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God isn’t about forcing you to follow a bunch of rules, he is about transformation, putting a right heart and desire within us. He gives us a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Only he can do this because in the natural “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). In the natural we want what we want which is usually instant gratification and temporary satisfaction. But the things of this world will not satisfy, they just give us a good feeling for that moment and depending on what it is, followed by regret for doing it. Like Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4: “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” If you’re like most people drinking that 8 glasses of water a day or even choosing to drink water over soft drinks and such seems impossible to achieve. But you know what I have figured out? The more I drink water the more I desire it. It is the same with the things of God. The more you choose him and his way over the ways of this world the more you desire Him. There is an old parable about a man who told a missionary that he felt like he had a black dog and a white dog fighting it out inside of him. The missionary asked him ‘Which one is winning?’ to which the man replied, ‘The one I feed the most’. So true! If you feed yourself nothing but sugary sweets the more you will crave them but you will soon find out they only temporarily satisfy and you pay a high price later with tooth decay, obesity and maybe even diabetes. The more you read God’s Word and get around good people the more you will want it. Hang around bad influences and ignore the things of God and you might enjoy yourself for a while but one day you will be looking back and wish you had made better choices. Yes, sin is pleasurable for a season (Hebrews 11:25) or it wouldn’t be so tempting, but the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). You might be thinking in response to that scripture ‘Well, everyone ‘dies’ but this scripture isn’t just talking about a physical death it is talking about a living death: death to your health, death to your emotions, death to your finances and so much more and ultimately it is speaking of eternal death in hell. There are consequences and rewards to our choices, so choose well.
Ephesians 4:14 says “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” And James 1:8, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” You have an enemy in this life and most of the time we are our own worst enemy but we also have an enemy that the Bible identifies as the Devil and Satan. And especially in a free society like the United States, the enemy loves to toss us to and fro. He will tempt us and when we fall laugh at us. How do we know what is right and what is wrong? How can we prevent getting caught in the enemy’s web? You need a standard and a place you can consult in times of decision and temptation. That standard is the Holy Bible, God’s Word. This modern day has disregarded and twisted the scriptures to say what they want it to say. Apostle Peter said many ‘wrest’ the scriptures to their own destruction in 2 Peter 3:16. ‘Wrest’ as in ‘wrestle’ to make it say what they want it to say. Yet, the writer of Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 that heaven and Earth would pass away but his Word will never pass away. His Word will never fail us. It is the standard for holy, victorious and truly satisfying living.
The Bible is not a word that was spoken long ago and no longer relevant for today, the Bible is a book that is still speaking today. It is a living thing because the Spirit of God himself inhabits its pages. It is relevant for today and still speaking life and hope to us. He still speaks and says this is the way, walk ye in it (Isaiah 30:21). He will not fail us or forsake us.
Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”
Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
Psalm 145:13, “The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
Luke 1:37 reminds us that no word from God will ever fail.
2 Timothy 2:13 says, that even if we are faithless, he remains faithful.
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