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by Buzz Dahlen “CHOICES,” we make them all the time. Some are hard choices, which demand a lot of thought and others are easy, calling for little or no thought at all. It never ceases to amaze me how some of the easiest, “thoughtless” choices we make, have the most profound affect on our lives. That is not to say that those well thought out choices do not have profound affect on our lives. One would hope that those choices that a person takes the time to consider would have a lasting affect on their life. Still it is amazing that so much of our life is defined by the choices we make. Choices, thousands upon thousands of choices made every day, the thought of it can be staggering. Consider all of the choices that you have made just today. What we do, when we do it along with what to say and when to say it, it is all our choice. We may be influenced by situations, circumstance and others, when making choices, but only the person making the choice will ultimately be held responsible for the choices he or she makes. How do we make the choices we make? We gather information, run it through our mind, will and emotions and then send it to our brain, which sends the message to the rest of the body to take action. Unfortunately, we do not always have all the information and sometimes we do not have correct information. We make choices just the same and fill in the blanks so that we can justify our choices. Did you know that it is a fact that the subconscious does not know the difference between real or imagined experiences? Our brains receive information and process it, then our minds take that info and run out so many different potential scenarios. It is a natural way of dealing with things. Most people are able to determine which scenarios are realistic and which are not. The process helps us make choices. However, there are times, when our imaginations are so strong that our thoughts take on a life of their own. You have had it happen to you, when you were thinking about something and a wave of emotion comes over you. You find yourself angry when nothing has even happened yet. That’s is why it is so important to base our choices on the truth, not on the imagined, on facts rather than feelings. The prophet Jeremiah wrote: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:9-10 Too often, we are faced with some sort of circumstances. We begin to fuel those circumstances with our thinking and feelings. Not too long after that our faith begins to follow our “train of thought” and then we begin to change the facts to line up with the way we see it. What we need to do is seek the truth or facts and fuel that with our faith, that will get our thinking and feelings on track and then we will see our circumstance begin to change and line up with the way things are. I have two points to consider… First, take the time to get the facts before you make your choices. It will save you a lot of time in the long run. Second, if you have not chosen to give your life to Christ yet, I encourage you to make that choice. Base your choice on the facts and consider this: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 In this situation, to not make a choice is to make a choice and we all will be held accountable for the choices we make. The most important of which is, did you choose to give your life to Christ… |
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