As many choices as we face every day, we often forget that we’re not the only one who has had to make them. God has also been faced with choices – one especially that will impact us for eternity. Though our choices might be based on our needs and desires, God’s choice was based on love.
The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy &:7-8)
Though this was written for the children of Israel, that same promise of acceptance has been passed on to us through the sacrifice of Jesus (Romans 1:16).
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6)
Without God’s decision to choose us, we would be lost in our sin and hell-bound. Gratefully, out of His great love came a choice to pay the ultimate price so we could be right with God. Rather than selfishly leaving us floundering without hope, God made a way to spend eternity with Him. No greater choice has ever been made!
Choosing Our God
God’s choice isn’t the end of all decision-making, however. God then challenges us with a choice of our own. Will we serve Him or someone or something else?
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)
Though God’s choice to choose us was the very first and greatest choice to be made in history, our choice for our lives is the second most important. Notice that this verse says “choose for yourselves.” God can’t make the decision for us. Our spouse and friends can’t make it for us. We have to make the choice. God’s desire is that we, like Joshua, will will to serve the Lord.
(If you’ve never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and would like to make that choice today, please see the “Prayer for Salvation” tab at the top of the page.)
Choosing Our Lifestyle
The list of choices doesn’t end there, as much as we’d like it to. God also has a specific plan for our lives that we have the choice to follow or reject. It comes in the form of “bearing fruit” as a testimony of what God we serve. It is proof to the world and to God that we have genuinely accepted the sacrifice He made to choose us.
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)
“Fruit” manifests in our lives in many forms, the greatest being our spiritual growth as we follow Jesus day in and day out. They are the signs of a true disciple:
- Choosing to obey God in every decision we make rather than following our own plans.
- Choosing to live a life of integrity rather than following the world’s example of poor character.
- Choosing to walk in love rather than living selfishly.
- Choosing to follow our spirit rather than following the desires of our flesh.
- Choosing to reach out to the world with Gospel rather than keeping it to ourselves.
Choosing Our Blessings
Bearing fruit precedes receiving “whatever we ask for” (see also John 15:7) Once we make the above choices and live them, it opens the door to the blessings God always desired we have! They are part of our inheritance as children of God.
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
Once again, though, it’s our choice to receive these blessings. They don’t just enter our lives because we want them. Just like we had to choose to believe Romans 10:9-10 to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we must believe the rest of God’s Word. We must choose to believe God’s blessings exist, choose to believe God wants us to have them, and choose to act as if they are true. This is what a life of faith looks like:
- Choosing to believe it is God’s will to heal us (Isaiah 53:5).
- Choosing to believe God will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19).
- Choosing to believe God will protect us from evil (Psalm 91).
- Choosing to believe God will bring peace in chaos (John 14:27).
- Choosing God will give us the desires of our hearts as they are in His will (Psalm 37:4).
Choosing Our Ending
Unfortunately, we live in a world that consistently does not make the right choices. They base their decision-making on their feelings and needs. Often the choices are inspired by a whim that momentarily looks gratifying. They are made on temptations planted by the devil to destroy their lives. The result is heartache, frustration, and disillusionment.
It may not seem like it at the moment, but each choice we make is a choice of life or death. It extends to choosing life or death spiritually, to life and death in relationships and finances. Whatever the choices we make, our lives are a result of those choices. Consider what would be the result of not making the choice to receive Jesus as Savior, rejecting the lifestyle of a Believer, and disbelieving the goodness of God?
However, when making choices based on the unfailing Word of God, the result will not be death and cursing. It will be life and blessing.
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live . . . (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Life is a result of making godly choices! We all want life, but it does come at a price. It first came at the price of Jesus’ life, but it also comes with price of laying down our personal preferences and choices, and making God our only choice.
. . . that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:20)
Let’s be a people that consistently chooses to love, obey, and cling to our God!
Christa Madrid 