Your Choices Matter

21 May

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”  ~ Nelson Mandela

We have always been told that our choices have consequences.  We have always been told that; however, we do not always believe that.  Sometimes, we make choices willy nilly and then act all surprised when the consequences to those choices come crashing down upon us.  We should not be so surprised.

As our choices have consequences, we need to examine reasons why we make our choices.  A lot of us would probably say, “I make my choices freely and do not allow anything to influence my decisions.”  If you are so bold as to make that statement, I would encourage you to think again.  We make decisions based upon a number of different factors:  peer pressure, ease, fear, and spontaneity, just to name a few.

If our choices are based upon peer pressure, we might find ourselves heading in directions unplanned.  If we are making the “simple” decision, we might find that the decision was not really as simple as it appeared.  If we make a decision based on fear, we will find ourselves going in the opposite direction than we had planned.

Jesus did not die and rise from the dead to give us fear.  He died and rose from the dead to give us hope.  Hope is upon which all decisions should be made.  For, if we make our decisions based on hope, we will always move in the right direction.  If we make our decisions based on hope, we will always act as the proper kind of people.  If we make our decisions based on hope, we will remove the reason to fear from our lives.

Hope in the Lord and never be disappointed.

FAITH ACTION:  Do not allow fear to affect the choices you make today.