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Six Decisions You Can Make Now
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of he surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” (Philippians 3:8 ESV)
Someone has said that character is the sum and total of a person's choices. Life is all about decisions. Every day we make countless decisions about what we will think about, what we will say, and what we will do. In the Bible we see people who were even called by God to make choices. Joshua called the people of Israel in Joshua 24:15 to “Choose this day whom you will serve.” In Proverbs 8:10, the Bible says, “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.” Jesus himself called people to make a choice. In Matthew 7:13 he said, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In Philippians 3:8-11 Paul was talking about a personal and specific choice to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection.
I want to share with you six decisions you can make by God’s grace in 2012. These daily decisions can radically change how you deal with what is already coming around the mountain of life and bring you to better place on the inside, regardless of your circumstances. You can’t make these decisions on your own but only through Christ (Gal. 2:20). The first three we will cover this month and the other three we will cover in the next article.
1. Surrender Your Crutch
What do you do when you face financial difficulties, hard times, challenging people, family troubles, sickness, anxiety, or depression? Every one of us has turned to something else other than Jesus to manage our discomfort and it’s our crutch. We may work too much, spend too much, eat too much, watch television too much, abuse alcohol, use drugs, or use pleasure to make us feel better. The thing with a crutch is that it actually is an idol. It’s a functional savior we run to before we run to God. It can be a pleasure, a person, a pursuit, or a perpetual attitude. For some of us our “crutch” is something that replaces Jesus. We may choose the x-box or the x-rated but all of us need to say, “It’s time to lay my crutch down-to surrender it to God.”
2. Slow Your Pace
When I look into the weary eyes of many people that come into our church—I see people who need to slow down. Some people are just addicted to busyness. We use the excuse of busyness by saying, “It’s my job, I have no choice,” or “It’s my kids schedule,” or “It’s the church schedule,” but when we have a chance to just sit and listen to God we find something else to do and to focus on. We need to make a decision to slow down. We need space to sort out all that distracts us, clamors for our attention, and takes our focus away from knowing Jesus in the course of our daily life. That’s why Paul said, “I count everything as loss” in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. He was making a conscious decision to set God as his highest priority. When we slow down to focus on the Lord we receive peace, patience, simplicity, and clarity.
3. Unplug Your Distractions
Most of us do it and don’t even think about it. Most of us are addicted to it—the television, internet, cell phones, texting, Facebook, and Twitter. In most homes every evening the flat screen, ipod, ipads, and cell phones are rarely turned off. I have even seen this in our lives as a family of four with two older children. It’s hard to unplug. We get in the habit of sitting in the living room but we are all disconnected from each other and God because we are distracted by our technology. However, if you want to receive that which you need most you have to unplug your distractions. Make a conscious choice to unplug from the technology everyday and connect with God in His word and with your family. What will you unplug from today?
I encourage you and I flat out challenge you to make these choices in your daily life. If you will make the choice to know Jesus and count everything else as loss, you will not regret that decision…ever! See you next time.
For the Fame of His Name,
Pastor Ryan
