MAKING CHOICES THAT GLORIFY GOD

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.  9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12 delivering you from the way of evil.”  

Proverbs 2:6-12

Our journey here on earth is a series of events and constant choices.  Our choices can either be bad or good.  The issue is “To choose or not to choose. ”  Our choices will be made consciously and unconsciously!  We are daily faced with making decisions.  Some choices or decisions may be relatively simple, while others may be big and challenging.  From the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, it has been this way.  How long do you think  Adam and Eve had to wait to eat the forbidden fruit? What do you suppose crossed their minds before they chose to disobey God? Do you think they ever talked about it before they decided?

Our choices indeed affect the course of our life.  They can bring either death or life.  You see, bad choices have consequences that sometimes mark us for life.  We must understand that when we make choices, we are choosing the path that will lead us for all eternity, either to life or death.  Thus we must choose wisely and not foolishly.  Before we choose, we must first consider the purpose of our choices.  Are our choices glorifying and bringing honor to God? What do you think?  



I.   THE PURPOSE AND CONSEQUENCES OF OUR CHOICES:

“Who is the man who fears the Lord?  Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose”  (Psalm 25:12).

The Word of God provides us with valuable lessons to help and guide us into righteousness.  Consider a few examples of men in the Old Testament who made bad and foolish choices with terrible consequences.

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come”  (1 Cor. 10:11).

• LOT:

Lot made a choice that affected him and his family.  Because of his bad choice, he experienced war and kidnapping (Genesis 14). He had the distress and torment caused by the lawlessness of the people of Sodom (2 Peter 2:7-8).   He lost all of his possessions, his wife died, and then his daughters got him drunk and seduced him. He committed incest with them (Gen. 19).

• DAVID:

David is another one who suffered the devastating consequences of his poor and bad choices when he chose to commit adultery with Bathsheba, a woman who was married to one of his very loyal soldiers.  As a consequence, he suffered the death of his infant son (2 Sam. 12). Later his son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13). Then Amnon was killed by his vengeful brother Absalom (2 Sam. 13), and later  Absalom and his men rebelled against David, shaming him publicly. In the ensuing war, Absalom was defeated and killed.  Absalom’s death brought great grief to David (2 Sam. 15-18).

You see, both Lot and David made terrible choices with devastating consequences in their lives.  Our choices affect our lives and the lives of others in painful and damaging ways.  So how do we make wise choices and avoid all this turmoil?  Or what can we do when we make the wrong choices?

• MAKING CHOICES:  GOOD CHOICE VS. BAD CHOICE

We must choose to follow Jesus and become His disciple by accepting His gracious offer of salvation.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matt. 11:28:30) 

Indeed this is the wisest decision we can make in our life. It is a decision or choice that will affect our life more than any other!  It will determine our eternal destiny! Those of us who are disciples of Christ must be wise and do His will rather than our own. We must do His will in every decision to avoid making unwise and foolish choices that lead to terrible consequences (Matt. 28:18-20).  Every choice we make must honor and glorify God.  Let’s consider some of those choices:

1. The choice of a career, a job, how we manage our money and finances, choosing a mate, and all the issues of marriage and family: the decisions we make in our service to God.  We must put God and His kingdom of righteousness first, above everything, if we want to be blessed (Matt. 6:33). 
2. The choice of material things and money. If we make these things our primary goal, they will destroy us (1 Tim. 6:6-10)!
3. The choice of the wrong mate will bring us a lot of grief instead of happiness and peace (Prov. 12:4).  It will affect the conduct, and emotional well-being of our children.  Many who marry badly will divorce their mate when they discover it was a bad choice, ignoring the devastating effect it will have on their children for generations.  The saddest thing about divorce is that there is never a way to reverse the bad choices that both mother and father have made!  The children and their grandchildren will be affected by the violence of divorce (Mal. 2:16).
4. The choice to fornicate (having sexual intimacy outside of divinely authorized marriage) and having children out of wedlock will make us suffer the drastic consequences of our sinful choices.  Children who are born out of wedlock are handicapped both socially and morally. When they grow up without the godly example of a faithful dad married to their mom, they themselves are ill-equipped to establish a stable family in which to raise their own children.  They form another dysfunctional home.  The parents pass their sinful behavior onto their children, who likewise live in fornication. The cycle continues generation after generation.  These sins of immorality bear many terrible consequences!
5. The choice of choosing our friends.  A friend can become a curse or a wonderful blessing (Proverbs 12:26; 17:17; 1 Cor. 15:33). 
6. The choice of where to live.  We must be wise about choosing where to live.  Remember, Lot made a big mistake when he chose to live in Sodom, although it looked to him like the best business choice (Gen. 13:10-11).  But it was the wrong choice, an unwise choice that did not glorify God (Genesis 13:10-11; 13:13).   So what is the best way to choose where we are to live?  We must first pray and ask ourselves if we can afford the house we want to live in.  We must think about the location: will it hinder our service to God and His church? Are there many modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah's that will affect our faith and that of our children? 

You see, for every action, there will always be a choice with consequences.  So how can we make wise choices that will glorify God?  We must pray and humbly ask God for wisdom in faith before making decisions or choices.  We must fill our prayers with diligence and wisdom to make wise choices, that we will not have to regret later (James 1:5-8; Prov. 2:1-9).  We must ask others who are mature in their faith for advice or counsel.  There is safety in the abundance of counselors! (Prov. 11:14).

There is so much wisdom when we heed the wise counsel of the righteous (Prov. 12:15).  The Bible and older and more mature Christians are excellent sources of wise counsel.  So let us not hesitate to look for them and ask them for wise counsel (Prov. 11:14; 12:15).  Thus we must commit our lives and choices to God.  We must trust Him, placing our choices in the palm of His hands (Ps. 37:5-6; 23-26).  We can rest assured God will help us and give us wisdom to make wise choices that will please Him.  When we make our choices, we must understand God’s will for us.  Every time we make choices, we must say,  “If the Lord wills... ” (James 4:13-15).  We must never forget to include God in our choices!


CONCLUSION:

When we take God and His Word out of the picture, we can rest assured we will make poor and wrong choices.  Therefore, we must learn from the mistakes of others who made wrong and poor choices with devastating consequences.  Remember Lot’s wife and the terrible choice she made when she looked back.  We must choose wisely, do what is right, repent, and serve the Lord our God with all our heart and mind.  We must resolve to make wise and godly choices and live our life the best we can to serve and glorify our Lord (Phil. 3:13-14).

We must refuse to be proud and continue to remain in our bad choices.  We must not wallow in self-pity, feeling sorry for ourselves because of our unwise choices, guilt, or loss.  Why not learn from the examples of Lot and David and many others who can teach us the value of making wise choices that will glorify our God?  It breaks my heart to see so many people and their victims suffering because of the bad choices they made and because they rejected the wise counsel of God found in His Word and given by His righteous ones!  We must start making wise choices to the glory of God, resolve to follow Jesus and become His faithful disciple ( Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:36-41).

May we open our hearts to God’s wisdom and heed His wise counsel as well as the counsel of the righteous of the Lord.  May we heed their wise counsel when making our choices (the choice of a career, a job, money, finances, choosing a mate to marry, our friends, family, where to live, and our service to God).  May we trust our Lord with all of our hearts and not lean on our own understanding, for that will be a foolish and terrible choice.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths"  (Proverbs 3:5-6).

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