Choices

When I first learned that I was diabetic it became apparent that I would have to change my eating habits. I needed to make healthier choices, to eat more protein and veggies, and to forgo carbohydrates. I learned to read labels and packaging, looking for hidden sugars and making my calories count. Some days it was harder than others. I developed a mantra that I repeat to myself even today: “I can eat to live or I can eat to die. Today I choose to eat to live.” Not every day, though. Some days I am tired or discouraged or grumpy, and I eat the wrong things. I eat to die. I didn’t just come up with this and say it once. I repeat it every day. I have to make this choice every day.

The same is true with my Christian life.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice and holding fast to him. Deuteronomy 30:19-20

First I must choose life, the life that is only found in Jesus. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, do so. Do it now. Don’t wait. Why would you choose death? Choose life today.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

John 14:6

I must also choose each day who I am going to live for. Will I live for myself, investing in temporary and earthly things? Or will I live for the One who gave me life? How will I invest my time and energy? Will my day belong to me or God?

Choose for yourself today whom you will serve… Joshua 24:15

It’s a choice I have to make every single day, sometimes hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute. Will I stop and share God’s love with that inconvenient person? Will I choose to spend a few minutes in the Word? Is my time mine, or his?

Just like choosing to eat for life, I have to choose to live for life and for the One who gave me life. Some days it’s harder than others. Some days all I want to do is nap and eat chocolate. Bring on the brownies! Some days I want to walk by that annoying, needy person without seeing them or stopping to affirm their worth in the eyes of God.

It helps to remember that I am chosen, and was chosen first by God before I even knew that I needed him. My choice to live for him is only possible because I am his beloved. I can be kind because of his kindness to me. I can be patient because of his great patience.

And so, as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Colossians 3:12-14

Today, choose life. Choose to live the life that God has given you. Put on life and love like your favorite jeans and t-shirt. Wear them and grow comfortable with them. It’s a daily thing, but it’s worth it.

Participants in Suffering

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about suffering lately. Not on purpose, mind you. It just seems to come up in my Bible study and in my reading. That’s exactly what has me a little concerned. I’m not a big fan of suffering. Five degrees too hot and I’m whining. Five degrees too cold and I’m pulling out the wool socks. I’ll do most anything to alleviate my suffering.

My suffering is nothing compared to what some people live with. I have one friend on dialysis. She knows suffering. Another friend has cancer. Seven hundred people have died from the Ebola virus. They know suffering. Christians in Syria and Iran and Libya are being put to death for living their faith. They know suffering. Children die from lack of clean water. Girls are stolen from their families for the desire of an education. Children are abused and misused. Young boys are sold into slavery as expendable soldiers.

We all suffer, some more than others. I think its safe to say that nobody likes it. Suffering makes us uncomfortable. It makes us doubt God’s love for us, or our own competency.

Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials… James 1:2

God seems to view suffering differently than we do. He doesn’t seem to see suffering as a bad thing, but instead of a tool for our development. He seems to see it as a temporary thing, keeping in mind the future he has in store for us. That future can help us endure anything, just as it helped Jesus.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3

Jesus knows suffering. When he asks us to endure, he knows what he’s asking. When he allows suffering in our lives, he walks beside us, helping us endure. When we think we can’t, he reminds us that he has already overcome, and that he will use it for our good. Our suffering will never be wasted.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

2 Cor. 4:7-10

God allows suffering so that he will be glorified, so that others will witness and be drawn to him, and so that we will mature and become more like him. We have been chosen to share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory. It is an honor to suffer, and in suffering for him we share in his death. It is an act of gratitude and worship.

How do you suffer? People are watching. What do they see? Do they hear my whining and complaints? Or do they see someone who is bowed down in submission before her Savior? Will I allow God to work in my life, even if it involves suffering? Will I offer my suffering as a sacrifice of praise?