Choice and Consequence

Our society today wants to blame someone else for bad choices because it is certainly less painful than taking the consequences for them.  If we can't find someone convenient to blame, we often blame God because everything that happens is His will.  Right?  Wrong!  It may be a surprise to consider that even God doesn't always get what He wants.  2 Peter 3:9 says, "God is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for ALL to come to repentance."  Do ALL come to repentance?  Absolutely not; therefore, everything that happens is not God's will.  He gives us a choice and will never violate our free will.  After all, if you could make someone love you, by definition it wouldn't be love.  God is love (1 John 4:16) and every good and perfect gift comes down from God our Father (James 1:17).  Therefore, God is not responsible for all the bad things that happen to you.  Yes, He can use those things in your life; but God is good and gives you abundant life and Satan is evil and comes to steal, kill, and destroy. 

I agree that there are times when there are physical limitations to our choices, but we do have a choice.  What does the Bible say about choices?

• Deut. 28 lists both blessings and curses 
• Deut. 30:19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.  Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.  Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!"  We have choices, God wants us to make the life-giving ones, and our choices also affect our generations for good or bad.  You may have reaped the effects of the good and bad choices of your ancestors just as you can pass the effects of your choices on to future generations. Learn to pass on generational blessings.
• Joshua 24:15 "But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve."  In our world today we often serve mammon.  Your faith might not in Jesus Christ, but make no mistake; your faith is in something--yourself, creation, money, etc. 
• Rom. 8:4. We can walk by the flesh or by the spirit--our choice.

Even small, seemingly insignificant, choices can have major consequences in your life both now and in the future.  For example, overspending on smaller material things can put you into debt and ruin your credit so you can't provide bigger things in the future.  Our society runs on credit cards which can tempt people to spend money they don't have.  The first "experiment" with drugs or sex can make the second and subsequent choices easier until there is an addiction that enslaves you.  Anger and rage as a first choice in frustrating situations can lead to murder.  Sin is incremental with each decision becoming easier to justify and excuse until you are in over your head.  The wages of sin are death (Rom 6:23).

In the same way, every choice we make for righteousness makes it easier to choose that path again.  In learning, the neuron pathways are strengthened by repetition.  The same is true of behavior as evidenced by Pavlov's experiments with dogs which led to behavior modification techniques. 

Inaction also has consequences.  For example, lying or telling partial truths which are discovered later in less favorable circumstances often have devastating consequences in relationships because it breaks trust.  If you do not vote for righteousness, darkness will rule society as we are now discovering.  If we do not speak up for righteousness at this time, we will soon be overtaken by the darkness.  Look at what only 3% of the homosexual population who speak up and take action have been able to accomplish in a short time!  If we do not make a choice, it is often made for us.

Junk or Joy was written to help two little girls, who were going through a traumatic divorce, see that they did have a choice.  When harsh and unjust things come our way, we have what I like to call a "moment of choice".  Our choice is how to react! If we rehearse the moment and roll it around in our head, it is like chewing the bubble gum talked about in Offense, Get Off My Fence.  But if we choose to set our mind on something else--a scripture, a song, a favorite hobby--we can bring our anger under control and react from a different spirit.  I realize there may be extenuating circumstances that lower the number of choices available such as mental and physical problems.  Children are especially vulnerable because they cannot take care of themselves.  I am not saying it is easy to live with the consequences of our choices; but we can at least recognize our responsibility in our choice and ask for the Jesus to help us.  If we really believe we have no choice, we are hopeless victims.  Remember that Jesus is our hope, sure and steadfast, an anchor to our soul.  (Heb. 6:19)

What about false grace where the more we sin, the more we are forgiven.  Rom 6 clarifies this question.  Also, many promises in the Bible are conditional because they require something from the receiver.  For example, "If you love the Lord your God, you will keep His commandments."  The Hebrew root for keep here means to "treasure and guard".  When I learned that, it took a lot of the religious flavor of rule keeping out of that verse and replaced it with love.  We are to make kingdom choices out of love for God, not because we will be punished if we do not.  The punishment comes from the consequence of not choosing God's ways.    

Over a life time, choices can lead to a junk filled heart and a bitter life OR a fruit filled heart and a peaceful life.  Junk or Joy contrasts these choices with alliteration that children can understand and learn to apply.  The vocabulary in our home even changed with this book.  Instead of nagging about the child's impatience, simply ask if they need some "patience potatoes".  We have all known older people who are grumpy and bitter as well as those who are cheerful and a pleasure to be around.  We make our choices and then our choices make us.  Small choices over a lifetime add up a life full of regrets or a life full of joy. 

#raisestablechildren         #makingJesusreal