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A Life Full of Choices
You’ll recall in your childhood games the choosing up of sides for a team sport, an experience that put an immediate tension in the air. Two captains survey the potential teammates and choose the ones that will play the best, until there are only a few left that have the least skills to offer. I’ve been chosen first and also know what it’s like to be the leftovers.
I‘ll never forget being one of the freshmen on a football team at the small college I attended. In the heat of the third quarter, the starting linebacker came out of the game to the sidelines. Maybe this was my chance to get in the game!
My adrenaline was pumping. The starter had a broken shoulder pad strap. Coach looked down the bench and called out my name and I jumped up, and said, “Yes, coach?” He said, “Meyer, give Sandford your shoulder pads!” Right there before God and all witnesses, I took my pads off and handed them over. Humiliation wasn’t the word for it! I rode the bench until the game ended, the only one without big shoulders.
That famous English philosopher, Mick Jagger, was right on the money when he wrote the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.
Every single day of your life is filled with choices. Recall multiple choice tests? You had to select an answer from a) through d), or e) none of these are correct. If you studied and prepared, you’d succeed. If you didn’t, you’d take your best guess. The choices you leave blank were sure to count against you. I had one guy in my high school class during a test who flipped a coin to decide. But there’s a better way to make choices.
When you have to make a decision, listen to what your heart has to say. Others talk about a gut feeling, but for me, answers come more from your heart. Decisions are not always solved by intellect, or by what your emotions tell you. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all guard your heart, for from it flows the issues of life.”
David had God’s phone number. When there was a battle looming, he consulted with God as to how or when the battle should proceed. I believe David often had a direct verbal response that he acted on. For us, God often responds by using people as messengers to influence our choices. How about just asking Him?
Send up a prayer and wait for an answer, and if you have peace about it, go forward. While God will open some doors, others he will close. Sometimes He will check your progress and divert your path, all for your own good and for his glory, so listen and wait for his directions.
Another philosopher named Garth Brooks exudes country wisdom, reminding us that, “some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”. Sometimes the answer from Him is “no”. Other times it’s “wait”. You may never know the why of some things until you get to heaven. But looking back, you’ll find some decisions you thought were failures have turned into blessings. God engineers circumstances!
What some call a leap of faith is therefore more calculated. You often may not know where you’re going to land, but God does. Hopefully, you’ve come to know and trust His divine discernment. If God brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it.
Back to the playground example… amazing, isn’t it, that God would want you and I to be on his team. There’s proof - in John 15:16, where Jesus says, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.“
Whether you’re on the field or on the bench, be ready to be a faithful witness to the confidence you have in Him to call the right plays. Go! Fight! Win!
You’ll recall in your childhood games the choosing up of sides for a team sport, an experience that put an immediate tension in the air. Two captains survey the potential teammates and choose the ones that will play the best, until there are only a few left that have the least skills to offer. I’ve been chosen first and also know what it’s like to be the leftovers.
I‘ll never forget being one of the freshmen on a football team at the small college I attended. In the heat of the third quarter, the starting linebacker came out of the game to the sidelines. Maybe this was my chance to get in the game!
My adrenaline was pumping. The starter had a broken shoulder pad strap. Coach looked down the bench and called out my name and I jumped up, and said, “Yes, coach?” He said, “Meyer, give Sandford your shoulder pads!” Right there before God and all witnesses, I took my pads off and handed them over. Humiliation wasn’t the word for it! I rode the bench until the game ended, the only one without big shoulders.
That famous English philosopher, Mick Jagger, was right on the money when he wrote the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.
Every single day of your life is filled with choices. Recall multiple choice tests? You had to select an answer from a) through d), or e) none of these are correct. If you studied and prepared, you’d succeed. If you didn’t, you’d take your best guess. The choices you leave blank were sure to count against you. I had one guy in my high school class during a test who flipped a coin to decide. But there’s a better way to make choices.
When you have to make a decision, listen to what your heart has to say. Others talk about a gut feeling, but for me, answers come more from your heart. Decisions are not always solved by intellect, or by what your emotions tell you. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all guard your heart, for from it flows the issues of life.”
David had God’s phone number. When there was a battle looming, he consulted with God as to how or when the battle should proceed. I believe David often had a direct verbal response that he acted on. For us, God often responds by using people as messengers to influence our choices. How about just asking Him?
Send up a prayer and wait for an answer, and if you have peace about it, go forward. While God will open some doors, others he will close. Sometimes He will check your progress and divert your path, all for your own good and for his glory, so listen and wait for his directions.
Another philosopher named Garth Brooks exudes country wisdom, reminding us that, “some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”. Sometimes the answer from Him is “no”. Other times it’s “wait”. You may never know the why of some things until you get to heaven. But looking back, you’ll find some decisions you thought were failures have turned into blessings. God engineers circumstances!
What some call a leap of faith is therefore more calculated. You often may not know where you’re going to land, but God does. Hopefully, you’ve come to know and trust His divine discernment. If God brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it.
Back to the playground example… amazing, isn’t it, that God would want you and I to be on his team. There’s proof - in John 15:16, where Jesus says, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.“
Whether you’re on the field or on the bench, be ready to be a faithful witness to the confidence you have in Him to call the right plays. Go! Fight! Win!