It has only recently that I’ve actually come to terms that society in the west is rich, in a material sense. We have a home to live in, parents that love us without any conditions, a great educational system that is dedicated to helping students reach their potential, we have food on the table and a bed to sleep in. We even have a gaming console or two, a flat screen TV, a few laptops around the house, as well as kitchen appliances that make cooking all the more easier. We have the option to go to a good university once we finish school. We can choose which career path to take, or whether we would like to take a gap year and travel. We also have the choice about whether to watch TV, see movies, listen to music, or whether to go to the shops during the day or at night time. We live in a society that has a smorgasbord of choices in front of us. We have that choice, but sometimes we can lose sight that many people do not have that. They are maybe born in a war torn country, or they could live in an unstable home environment; or they may have a limited choice range in terms of their education. Whatever the case may be, we need to take a step back from living on autopilot, doing our daily chores; and to ponder and realise that we cannot take the choices that we have for granted. We have to realise that the opportunities that we individually and socially have are not to be overlooked.
We should enjoy what we do have right now, because we never know when it is gone. It is one of the things that it certain about our lives is that when times are good, when we have the choices that make our lives better, we can’t just live the life expecting that the good times will last forever; because it doesn’t. Hard times will come. Jesus Himself said that, that ‘in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world!’ (John 16:33). Isn’t that an awesome feeling? That even in the bad times, we can still celebrate knowing that God has overcome sin and death to bring us back to Himself? Sometimes it is hard to understand that there will be times in our lives when the choices that we have taken for granted will disappear, and all that is left that we can cling on is our knowledge that God is faithful and is with us always. But I truly know that when this day comes, I can say with full confidence that the Lord will bring us out, and though the hard times in our lives aren’t caused by God, it is used by God nonetheless in order for Him to shape us into the godly men and women that He wants us to be.
We have choices everyday in abundance. We may think that we don’t have everything that we want, and when we see adverts on television, we are told that if we purchase this sofa lounge, or this television, or that house or that car, then we’d be on the path to fulfilment and happiness. But we know that we don’t need all these things to be happy. We don’t need to be rich in order to feel rich. We have our family, our friends, those around us that truly understand how we feel; that gives us the option to always come to them when we feel like we have no one else to talk to. And once again we mustn’t believe into this lie that the choices that we make define us- because that’s what we’ve been told; by the media, by our friends, sometimes even by our family. ‘Oh, you better make good choices in life because whatever you make now will change your life forever, and this choice will define you in the years to come,’ they may say. We believe that because we’ve been around it so much in our lives then we start to think, ‘it must be true.’ But we all know that this shouldn’t be the case; that the choices we make shouldn’t define our character; our personality; or our values. God knows who we are. He made us, fashioned man in the image of Him; knew us even before we were an idea in our parents head. We don’t need to believe that the things we have or don’t have, or the choices that we make, determine our lives. This is our identity: we are the children of God; and God loves to give good gifts to His kids. He will never leave us, and always reassures us that the choices we make don’t matter and we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings; that when He stood there on the cross and died and rose again for all of humanity; everyone’s sin was paid. All we need to do is to just believe into that.
I am reminded by a Tenth Avenue North song, 'You are More', where the lyrics speak truth and proclaim that we are more than the sum of our past mistakes, because Jesus was ransomed and bought the punishment that should’ve been on us, and placed it upon Himself. But then there are some people around the world that have a hard time believing this truth that we are made holy and blameless in the sight of God when He died for their sins. They may feel like they have done unspeakable things, made choices; that led them to the way that they are right now, that maybe if they try harder, do better, and move their life on the right track, the acceptable track, then maybe God will accept them, then maybe God will love them. But the converse is instead true. God loves and accepts us the way we are, and we need to tell everyone about this. Once we understand that we are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven, then we’ll feel rich, like a million dollars, even when we may not have much.
The choices we make don’t make us who we are as people. We have choices everyday, and the choices we make have consequences about what happens in the future. And people in less fortunate situations have fewer choices to make everyday, but same goes for them, those choices they make have consequences too. But for all of humanity, whether rich or poor, conformable or not; our future, our past, even our present don’t define us. We are loved by the King of the universe, enough so that ‘…he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross…’ (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus did this, and this is who we are.
We should enjoy what we have now, and know that even if hard times come, God will work everything that occurs to His glory, and though we may not understand the situations in our lives that we believe God has the ability to change but doesn’t, God is still working in our lives, putting people and circumstances in place so that as people we have our best shot at knowing and having a relationship with Him. It is our relationship with Jesus that makes us who we are. Not our choices or family expectations. So next time you are bombarded with choice, on the TV, or in the grocery shops or bookstores, clothes stores or digital media outlets, think to yourself ‘Will this ___ further my relationship with God?’ Because even though our choices don’t define us, generally not so clever or not thought out choices do have ramifications as to where we end up. It’s a tricky topic- choices. And it’s bound to create further discussion until the end of time. But what I know is that the choices I make shouldn’t affect how I perceive myself in relation to my communion with God. God loves me the way that I am, but also loves me enough to not let me stay the way that I am. We all should continually be growing, spiritually to become like Christ.
As I finish this, what choices do you make everyday that you think you need to reassess in your life? What steps would you need to take to hear what the Lord is trying to say to you about these choices?
Until next blog,
Jon.
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