Articles From Our Bulletins
Choices
Each day we make hundreds if not thousands of choices- when to get up, what to wear, what and where to eat, where to go, what to do (and with whom), etc. etc. etc. But as adults we also make bigger choices in life- where we will live, with whom we live (if anyone), what we will do to live (vocation), and how we live (the kind of person we choose to be). At this time of year especially, we have, at least in theory, the ability to choose our leaders and government officials on national, state, regional, and local levels. In many ways and areas of life we are free to choose. Perhaps our freedom of choice in so many areas has skewed our perspective regarding spiritual matters also….
“Attend the church of your choice,” some people say. But God says there is but “one body” that is His, Ephesians 4:4; 1:22-23. You can probably find “a” church that will cater to your every desire, and you can choose to affiliate yourself with them. However, “the” church is the one Christ built (Matthew 16:18) that operates only according to His will (Matthew 7:13-27).
“I choose to worship God in my own way,” is the refrain of some folks. But God says that He is “spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” John 4:24. If the way and means you choose to “worship” can’t be found in the New Testament- which is God’s will for us today, then it isn’t Him you are worshipping but yourself, cf. Philippians 3:17-19.
“I don’t want to be saved that way- I choose to be saved this way,” is at least the sentiment, if not the actual expression, of others. Think about that logic for a moment. If we need “saving,” aren’t we dependent on someone else to save us? Do we really get to choose how they save us? Of course not! Jesus, the Savior, determines how we are saved, cf. John 12:48; Mark 16:15-16! No one else gets to choose, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.
The New Testament uses the word choose (or its derivatives) some 42 times. Do you know how many of these occurrences specify an actual choice presented to or made by Christians? Two. In both passages, Christians were given the choice of men to represent and serve them in carrying out specific tasks, cf. Acts 6:5 and Acts 15:22. In no New Testament passage does God present us with choices regarding which church to attend, how to worship Him, or how to be saved. Zero. Zip. None. Nada. It is true that we don’t “have to” believe or obey Him. But if we choose to believe Him, we must do things His way by attending and affiliating ourselves with His church, worshipping in the ways and with the means He has specified, and conforming to His requirements in order to be saved.
The ability to choose, as in free moral agency, is a God-given ability. We are not created as animals that are driven by instinct, cf. 2Peter 2:12. God gave us to the right and the ability to choose, but did not exempt us from the consequences of those choices. Both here (Galatians 6:7-8), and in the hereafter (2Corinthians 5:10), our choices come with accountability. You can choose to believe and obey Him, or you can choose to disbelieve and disobey Him. That choice is unmistakably yours. But if you choose to believe and obey, it has to be all the way. You can’t pick and choose how and when you will be His and serve Him. Jesus put it this way in Luke 6:46, “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Good question. Will you choose to do what Jesus says, or will you attempt to keep trying to choose your way over His? Remember that He “is the way, the truth, and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father, but through” Him, John 14:6. Choose wisely, my friends.
- Choices.pdf (79.94 kB)
