Choose This Day...

Choose this day whom you will serve…

The ability to choose is powerful. Every day, you choose to get out of bed, what you will eat, if you will exercise, and how hard you work. The ability to choose is also a gift from God. He didn’t make us robots, and while He is God and on the throne, He has given a great deal of responsibility and authority over to us. He even tells us in Scripture:

"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, NKJV)

There are life-giving choices in just about everything we are faced with, and there are life-defeating choices. God wants us to choose life because everything He gives is life-giving, not life-taking.

I used to believe that God was this mean, evil deity who took away my mom and dad when I was young. He wasn’t love or good because He could have stopped their cancer, but He didn’t. For much of my adolescence, I carried with me hatred or complete disbelief. I thought if God did exist, then He wasn’t loving or kind to allow this hurt in my life and the evil I saw in the world.

I later found the answer to my question in Scripture when I read:

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10, NKJV)

I was blaming the wrong person for death and disease. God, in His sovereignty, also provided eternal life for my mom and dad—and for me if I would choose Him. Through a life-saving miracle that you will later read about, I did.

I later realized the effects of this evil world are present because they have been allowed to exist when God gave His people dominion over the earth and told us to subdue it:

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" (Genesis 1:26, NKJV)

For centuries, man has failed to do this. In God’s sovereignty, He set up principles for how this world operates, such as reaping and sowing:

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Galatians 6:7, NKJV)

But the choice is always up to us.

Bad things happen when good men do nothing, and the evil we see in our world is a result of thousands of years of bad choices made by sinful mankind, who has failed miserably at following after God’s laws and statutes. These were given to us for our protection and provision:

"You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess." (Deuteronomy 5:33, NKJV)

By recognizing the power God has given to man—or rather, the responsibility given to us—we can take back what the devil and evil works have done and turn our world around. If each believer walked in their God-given power and responsibility and lived out a life of love, forgiveness, and executed justice and mercy, we’d stand a fighting chance at combating prevailing evil in the world.

We are in a war. It might not be WWIII (at least at the writing of this), but we are each called to be soldiers in the Lord’s army, to stand up for righteousness, peace, and love. To live in reconciliation, to care for the poor, and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves:

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27, NKJV)

If you are a believer today, you have been enlisted. But maybe you are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for others to do the work God called you to do. It’s not the pastor’s job, the missionary’s job, the president’s job, or the military’s job—it’s yours. Yes, each one of those positions has tasks and responsibilities that they complete, but you also have yours. You have a purpose, part of God’s divine plan:

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV)

You have an instrument to play in His orchestra of life. You are so special and unique that no one can do what you are uniquely called to do within your realm of influence. You might not be called to save the world, but you are called to save your world. You are called to stand for righteousness and God’s plan and principles in your family, your workplace, and your relationships. You even have a place within society to play as you vote for God’s principles in your country or take positions within your community or country that lead you to have greater godly influence and execute godly choices in areas where God has given you a personal passion or burden.

Maybe that’s over the human trafficking area or helping single moms. Maybe it’s running for the local board of education to bring a godly influence over local education in your area. Only you know the what and the where, but rest assured, if you stand for Christ, He’s going to take His stand through you.

Yes, evil will always exist, but it doesn’t have to win the war in our society, our homes, our workplaces, or even in our minds. It all comes back to choice. What will you choose?

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV)

We have been taught the ways of the world by the world, but it is only through the Word of God and His indwelling Holy Spirit that we are taught the ways of God, leading us into the way everlasting.

"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11, NKJV)

As you invest yourself in God’s Word, He will reveal the plans and purposes before you.

God will always use what He has invested in your life thus far. Whatever He has brought you through, He will use for the good in your life and in the lives of others:

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28, NKJV)

Nothing is ever wasted in God’s economy. In the words of proclaimed podcaster Ed Mylett and brand expert Rory Vaden: You are most equipped to help the person you once were.

If you feel that tug in your heart right now—that you need to make the choice to stand for God in your own life—and you are not sure what’s next, start by taking inventory of your skills, relationships, experiences, and the hurts and traumas you’ve lived through. Look there. You will start to see the realm of your influence unfold before you and the choices available to you.

Whatever you do, choose life. An abundant life is waiting for you, and that abundance comes from following after the One who chose you before the foundation of the world for such a time as this:

"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." (Ephesians 1:3-4, NKJV)