The Sum Of Our Decisions
The Sum Of Our Decisions
You can either own your choices, or you can let your choices own you. You can either spend your days moping about, feeling sorry for yourself and the errors in your life, never growing and never moving forward with life; OR you can fess up, own up, wise up, grow up! You can sit there in your filth, wearing your party hat, throwing the biggest blowout pity party of the season or you can pick yourself up and move on. Which will it be for you today?
We should be moving on with life...should be. However, this is not always the case with us is it?
Instead, we order balloons filled with the air of self-loathing. On them is written every problem we can imagine, real or supposed, to make ourselves feel worse about our life. We make the biggest cake with the most bitter thoughts and ingredients we can find. We send out invitations addressed to "anyone who will listen" with the lovely note of "come listen to me feel sorry for myself". The music is blaring from the speakers on infinite repeat with the song "I'll Never Move On"; a song which you hate, but you just can't seem to get it out of your head [no, it's not an actual song]. The neighbors have ceased calling the cops due to the disturbance and have instead moved out of the neighborhood because these endless parties just get old and the music is horrid.
Believe me, I know these parties well. I've hosted way too many of them throughout my short time on this earth. Chances are, I may throw more of these parties in a weak moment of selfishness sometime before my life ends. It's a destructive and depressing pattern we get ourselves into with our unwillingness to learn from our past and move on with life. All too often we're more willing to open our mouths and complain rather than close our mouths and work.
This absurd metaphor serves as a reminder of the scene that we display when we are too blind or too dull of heart to realize this life is about serving God and others; this life and this world does not revolve around us. We can be so self-absorbed sometimes by neglecting to make the decision of fixing what we can fix and spending our time wisely in the pursuit of heaven. When we refuse to learn, refuse to be active, refuse to actually live our lives rather than mourn our plight; we bring a disgrace upon the name of the Savior who bought us.
Let's ask ourselves if this statement aligns with us,
"Jesus Christ's sacrifice means so much to me that I will [insert your attitude, what you're doing, your words, your demeanor] today."
Do ANY of these fit?
I will "complain", "feel sorry for myself", "envy others", "speak ill of someone else", "be weak in my service", "compromise the truth", "wallow in self-pity", "be lazy", etc.
Might I make the recommendation to choose to grow from the decisions we have made, both good and bad, and get on with the business of living & serving God properly. We can either grow bitter or we can grow better, the choice is all ours.
Should we feel remorse for our failings in life? Without question. Is there a time to reflect? Yes, but that time is short, and it must be used wisely in order to move us to action to correct any errors we have committed. If we allow that remorse to consume us then it will destroy us. If there is sin, then mourn over the sin and then focus on doing whatever it takes to get it right; let your failings motivate you to repent, make amends, ask forgiveness, become better and stronger (see Acts 2). Be like Paul. Get it right with God and MOVE ON (Phil.3:7-14)!
Here's a couple examples from scripture of this mindset:
There was an apostle who forsook Jesus. He sold Him out, for 30 pieces of silver, and betrayed his Lord. He felt remorse for his actions, his actions brought sorrow, he had regret. However, his sorrow led him to end it all. Judas took his own life, rather than repent.
There was another apostle who left his Lord. He denied he even knew Him, three times, even cursing when pressed harder about his association with Him. His actions brought sorrow, he had regret, he wept bitterly. However, his sorrow led him to repent and return to his Lord. Peter chose to live his life determined to never leaving the Lord again, having learned the lessons from his errors (read 1 & 2 Peter, notice the changed man).
We're left with the reality of either being like:
Judas - committing spiritual suicide by refusing to move on;
or
Peter - repenting, learning from the mistakes, putting your energies into fully serving God, devoting your life completely to Him.
It's your choice today friend, Judas or Peter? Will you end your spiritual life by refusing to move forward or will you live the rest of your days devoted to the Lord? Own your choices.
Our time is limited and it must be spent wisely, redeeming the time:
We will be held accountable for how we live. Let our days be spent in learning from our errors, drawing closer to the Lord, rejecting the world and following Christ. Let us be like Peter and determine to never leave the side of our Lord again, whatever it takes. May we not be like Judas who just gave up, rather than make the changes he needed to make.
We are the sum of our decisions, what will ours be this day, eternal life or eternal destruction?
Choose your path (Josh.24:15).
You can either own your choices, or you can let your choices own you. You can either spend your days moping about, feeling sorry for yourself and the errors in your life, never growing and never moving forward with life; OR you can fess up, own up, wise up, grow up! You can sit there in your filth, wearing your party hat, throwing the biggest blowout pity party of the season or you can pick yourself up and move on. Which will it be for you today?
We should be moving on with life...should be. However, this is not always the case with us is it?
Instead, we order balloons filled with the air of self-loathing. On them is written every problem we can imagine, real or supposed, to make ourselves feel worse about our life. We make the biggest cake with the most bitter thoughts and ingredients we can find. We send out invitations addressed to "anyone who will listen" with the lovely note of "come listen to me feel sorry for myself". The music is blaring from the speakers on infinite repeat with the song "I'll Never Move On"; a song which you hate, but you just can't seem to get it out of your head [no, it's not an actual song]. The neighbors have ceased calling the cops due to the disturbance and have instead moved out of the neighborhood because these endless parties just get old and the music is horrid.
Believe me, I know these parties well. I've hosted way too many of them throughout my short time on this earth. Chances are, I may throw more of these parties in a weak moment of selfishness sometime before my life ends. It's a destructive and depressing pattern we get ourselves into with our unwillingness to learn from our past and move on with life. All too often we're more willing to open our mouths and complain rather than close our mouths and work.
This absurd metaphor serves as a reminder of the scene that we display when we are too blind or too dull of heart to realize this life is about serving God and others; this life and this world does not revolve around us. We can be so self-absorbed sometimes by neglecting to make the decision of fixing what we can fix and spending our time wisely in the pursuit of heaven. When we refuse to learn, refuse to be active, refuse to actually live our lives rather than mourn our plight; we bring a disgrace upon the name of the Savior who bought us.
Let's ask ourselves if this statement aligns with us,
"Jesus Christ's sacrifice means so much to me that I will [insert your attitude, what you're doing, your words, your demeanor] today."
Do ANY of these fit?
I will "complain", "feel sorry for myself", "envy others", "speak ill of someone else", "be weak in my service", "compromise the truth", "wallow in self-pity", "be lazy", etc.
Might I make the recommendation to choose to grow from the decisions we have made, both good and bad, and get on with the business of living & serving God properly. We can either grow bitter or we can grow better, the choice is all ours.
Should we feel remorse for our failings in life? Without question. Is there a time to reflect? Yes, but that time is short, and it must be used wisely in order to move us to action to correct any errors we have committed. If we allow that remorse to consume us then it will destroy us. If there is sin, then mourn over the sin and then focus on doing whatever it takes to get it right; let your failings motivate you to repent, make amends, ask forgiveness, become better and stronger (see Acts 2). Be like Paul. Get it right with God and MOVE ON (Phil.3:7-14)!
Here's a couple examples from scripture of this mindset:
There was an apostle who forsook Jesus. He sold Him out, for 30 pieces of silver, and betrayed his Lord. He felt remorse for his actions, his actions brought sorrow, he had regret. However, his sorrow led him to end it all. Judas took his own life, rather than repent.
There was another apostle who left his Lord. He denied he even knew Him, three times, even cursing when pressed harder about his association with Him. His actions brought sorrow, he had regret, he wept bitterly. However, his sorrow led him to repent and return to his Lord. Peter chose to live his life determined to never leaving the Lord again, having learned the lessons from his errors (read 1 & 2 Peter, notice the changed man).
We're left with the reality of either being like:
Judas - committing spiritual suicide by refusing to move on;
or
Peter - repenting, learning from the mistakes, putting your energies into fully serving God, devoting your life completely to Him.
It's your choice today friend, Judas or Peter? Will you end your spiritual life by refusing to move forward or will you live the rest of your days devoted to the Lord? Own your choices.
Our time is limited and it must be spent wisely, redeeming the time:
"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." ~Ephesians 5:15-17
"Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." ~Colossians 4:5-6
We will be held accountable for how we live. Let our days be spent in learning from our errors, drawing closer to the Lord, rejecting the world and following Christ. Let us be like Peter and determine to never leave the side of our Lord again, whatever it takes. May we not be like Judas who just gave up, rather than make the changes he needed to make.
We are the sum of our decisions, what will ours be this day, eternal life or eternal destruction?
Choose your path (Josh.24:15).
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