There are always choices...Free will is a gift
We have the power of choice.
The power of choice is what separates us from animals. We make hundreds of decisions each day. These choices range from the mundane to the sublime. They may be choices of friends, what we eat, how we dress, what we read, whether we cheat or act with integrity. All choices have bad or good results.
Bad choices will lead to: regret, guilt, misery, and sorrow about not having lived up to our potential, about the hurts we have caused, or the help we have withheld from someone in need.
Right choices require courage. We like to choose what is comfortable, to follow our own priorities, or and to cater to our feelings. We want good results in our lives but not what it takes to get them. Our choices are influenced by our attitudes about others and ourselves. We need to make consistant, quality decisions if we want to live quality lives.
In my experience, the best way to make quality decisions is to turn the controls over to the One who has my best interests at heart. The thought that I most treasure, the one that influences my decisions, the one that constantly plays a joyful tune in my heart is this: “I am a child of an excellent God. This loving God expects me to act in an honorable way.”
This loving, merciful and all-wise God does not expect the impossible. He has fully equipped me to do what is noble. Submission to Him enables me to accomplish what otherwise would be impossible. If I turn the controls over to Him in prayer about all the choices I make each day, I am admitting that I need help. That is the essence of prayer...humility.
Jesus said in John 14:18, “I will not leave you orphans,” and in John 16:7, he tells us he is sending us a helper, the Holy Spirit. If we didn’t need help, why would he send us a helper? Our excellent God expects more than our best. That is why we need the Helper. We cannot, by ourselves, lead the kind of spiritual life that we are called to live.
Life is filled with trials because it is filled with imperfect people that we have to deal with every day, ourselves included. In 1COR 10:13, we can find these encouraging words: “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”
Not only will we be able to bear it but also in facing such trial with faith, we will grow stronger, more vital, more in keeping with what it means to be the child of an excellent God.