...from the desk of Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

Battlegrounds - 7

MAKING CHOICES

The Psalms 1

Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God.

Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night.
They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.
But evil people are not like this at all; they are like straw that the wind blows away.
Sinners will be condemned by God and kept apart from God’s own people.
The righteous are guided and protected by the LORD, but the evil are on the way to their doom.

 

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

We have all heard the idea that history pivots on small events. But it would be just as accurate to show that history also swivels on great choices: Martin Luther’s, to nail his 95 theses on the cathedral door at Wittenberg; Washington’s, to cross the Delaware; Kennedy’s, to shoot for the moon.
Individual lives also swing on choices … choices made each day, some of which determine the course of an entire existence.

The ability to make good choices is one of the greatest assets in life. Corporations hire consultants in order to create conditions that will help them come to sound conclusions. We attend seminars, devise problem-solving techniques, and hold countless meetings … all in order to learn how to make as few mistakes as possible.

Life is a composite of choices, many of them small and inconsequential, but some of an “ultimate” nature: a marriage partner, a career, naming our children … (P.J. and Dawne naming their daughter, Fiorella was/is a huge choice).
Few people, I’m afraid, realize, however, how important this entire process is. They don’t see that all decision–making tends to pyramid out from certain ultimate choices we make.

Obviously, as a Christian, I believe that the most important single decision a person makes is his/her choice of whether or not to live under God’s authority, or outside of it. Everything else in life is affected by that choice.

That’s what the Psalmist was trying to get at when he took his pen and thought out loud about the destiny of 2 kinds of people.

The 1st, he observed, makes certain choices that ultimately result in blessedness and success.
The combination is important. Some people have success but not blessedness.

One can be successful in the ownership of things and power, but not blessed in terms of inner peace and fulfillment. The combination of the 2, the Psalmist points out, comes from a choice to live under God’s authority.

Not so with the 2nd person. Having broken with God’s laws, he appears at 1st to be successful, but ultimately becomes nothing more than “straw that the wind blows away.”

This person may think he’s escaping God’s authority and judgment, but the fact is … he ultimately does not. The life of straw is short; its’ ultimate destiny is oblivion … being blown away by the wind.
Choice-making is a battlefield of the human spirit … and the outcome of that battle is immensely important.

We’re being pushed to make choices almost every minute of the day. Ultimate choices shape the majority of those decisions, and the course of a person’s life, in terms of blessedness and success, hangs in the balance.

I see 3 categories of ultimate choice- making mentioned in Scripture over and over again. I call the 1st one … the choice of rebellion.

Sadly, it’s not difficult to select an illustration from Scripture of people in this category. There’s a large number from which to choose. But let’s center in on Jonah, a prophet of Israel.
To use the words of one commentator, “Jonah was willing to prophesy to the folks in Israel, but he flatly refused to become a foreign missionary.” And that’s where his famous ultimate choice gives us something to think about.

There’s no reason not to believe that Jonah had made some good choices earlier in his life. Probably he was a compelling communicator/preacher of God’s truth. Probably there were a large number of lives touched and changed by his ministry. But here’s a time when he makes a bad choice.

The Lord commands Jonah to head northeast for Nineveh. But when Jonah weighs the options, he makes a choice to do just the opposite. As far as he’s concerned, God’s strategy is a bad one.
It’d be just like those hated Assyrians in Nineveh to repent when he preached (how’s that for self-confidence?).

And if they were to do so, that would make him angry. Jonah was ready to vote for their destruction … now.

Therefore, taking matters into his own hand, Jonah heads not northeastward but westward; down to Joppa, down to the harbor, down to a ship, and down to its’ hull where he goes to sleep … and ultimately ends up down in the bottom of the ocean, down in the belly of a whale.

A couple of points about Jonah’s choice-making. The 1st is Jonah’s naïveness. Too bad he hadn’t read The 139th Psalm.
“If I flew away beyond the
east
or lived in the farthest
place in the west,
you would be there.”

But that’s what Jonah was attempting to do. He “set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the LORD.” Dumb, right?

But he’s in good company. He’s just like the person who stamps out God’s presence with noise, busyness, or acquisitions. We’re all engaged from time-to-time in an attempt to get away from God. Jonah had his way; we have ours … our incredibly busy schedules may be just as effective in delivering us away from God’s authority as Jonah’s Mediterranean “cruise” was designed to do for him.
A 2nd thing that interests me is Jonah’s mode of escape. History tells us that the Jews hated the ocean; they were afraid of it.

They left the shipping and oceanic transportation business to others. There wouldn’t have been many Jews interested in a mid-winter cruise to Bermuda. The ocean simply wasn’t for them.

Does that demonstrate how desperate Jonah was to get away from God? He was even ready to swallow this traditional fear.

The ultimate choice of rebellion forces a person to make a lot of other 2ndary choices. The choice to board that ship was the result of an ultimate choice … to rebel.
Each choice thereafter, each decision was a by-product of the 1st one. And when you make an ultimate choice in some part of your life to do things outside of God’s laws, be ready for a “cover-up” that takes you to absurd lengths to escape His hand.

The choice to rebel has massive implications. Lot found that out; so did Cain; and David; and Judas; and Ananias and Sapphria. The list goes on and on. The immediate result may appear to bring happiness, maybe even the appearance of success … but there is no blessedness, and ultimately there’s condemnation and the straw is blown away.

This brings us to the 2nd point … the choice of indecision. What I’m talking about here is the choice some people make not to choose.
We used to say back in my old political science days … “not to decide is to decide” … and some people still don’t realize that. So they move on in life thinking they’re maintaining a delicate balance that knows no fanaticisms or extremes.

Actually, Jesus was talking about just that when He wrote to the congregation at Laodicea. “I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich and well off; I have all I need.’ But you do not know how miserable and pitiful you are! You are poor, naked, and blind.”

Let’s think about Jesus’ words for a moment ….
He seems to be saying that God hates indecision more than He hates outright, acknowledged rebellion. Why?

Because the indecisive person who avoids both rebellion or commitment is one on whom it’s virtually impossible to reach. In other words, we can’t do anything with them.

The Laodiceans were playing the game of “cool” Christianity; keeping it respectable and comfortable. But listen to what Jesus says to them, “You say” this about yourselves …. And while you give yourselves a pretty high rating, let me tell you what you really are: “Poor, naked, and blind.”

Do you remember the children’s story of the Emperor who had no clothes?
That’s the Laodicean church. They refused to make ultimate choices. Their choice was not to choose; thus, all other choices in life were equally superficial and “tasteless.” And Jesus was ready to “spit” them out of His mouth.

Christian churches in America include a lot of Laodiceans. Some of us are Ladicean in certain areas of our lives. On the surface we think ourselves to be “home free” … but we’re not. God would rather that we label ourselves what we really are … rebels. Then He can bring to our spirits conviction, consequences, counsel, and cause us to come to repentance.

The final point is … the choice of commitment. Let’s go back to the 1st Psalm.
The 1st few verses describe a human being … unlike Jonah, who wanted to do his own thing, or the Laodiceans, who desired not to rock the boat … who makes godly choices.

In fact, look at the choices this person is making; and notice the results. He’s happy and successful.

We’re seeing here, choices of separation. And there are 3 of them. 1st, this is not a person who takes advice about ultimate questions and values in life from people who live in rebellion and indecision.

Jerry Kramer, the Green Bay Packer football player, said about Coach Vince Lombardi, “When our team was playing in a crowded stadium, we cared about the opinion of only one person … the coach. “The shouts and boos of the crowd meant nothing … only the opinions and approval of the man on the sideline … Lombardi.”

The Psalmist is describing a person who sees life like that. He lives under a barrage of styles, fads, opinions, and philosophies, but he makes a break with them when they offend his eternal choice to be God’s person.

The 2nd aspect of separation … he will “not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God” is the practical outcome of the 1st choice.

The actual course of our life … our behavior, words, choices on how to spend money, do this or that … is the result of the advice to which we respond.
This person does not follow the example of sinners, he rejects their advice. To use Scriptural language, his behavior is holy, like God.

The 3rd dimension of separation is the result of the 1st 2 choices. Those who reject the laws of God, who follow the example of sinners, end up with a cynical, scoffing mind. They laugh at those who try to stand up for good things, for moral values, for eternal dimensions.

I’ve always found it ironic that our culture ridicules the person who stands up for moral and spiritual values. We get accused of being part of the so-called “moral majority”, or the “religious right”, or a bunch of other things. Scoffing is a way of life in a culture where God is rejected.
The Psalmist describes a person who has separated themselves from those kinds of choices.

This person has made a choice of saturation. Not listening to the advice of the ungodly, they choose to spend time studying the Scriptures, and living by them. In other words, they choose to care about what God thinks.

Some years ago I had a friend who had a small plane. Larry would fly it regularly way out into the Gulf of Mexico. Then he would spend countless hours carefully fine-tuning his compass and radio and other instruments. He understood their capacity for getting a bit inaccurate due to various magnetic forces. But by frequently fine-tuning he would never get off course.
The person of God is also bombarded by forces and inputs that attempt to get us off course. Scripture is the “instrument” at dead-center by which we fine-tune our spirits and thus walk with God as men and women of commitment. One hour of religion in the church pew on Sunday is inadequate to keep us on course.

This person has made a choice, an ultimate choice in the guidance system of life. That ultimate choice results in hundreds of other choices each day … choices about the expenditure of money, time, and behavior; choices about the treatment of family, friends, and those in need; choices about the quality of work and response to adverse circumstances.

When we’re living in obedience to God’s law, our choices will be good ones. We’ll be prepared to make good choices.

We have a flood in our lower level. I’m told if I tell my insurance company that it was because a pipe broke or leaked, they’ll cover my loss of carpet and personal items. But if I say the sump pump couldn’t handle all the water, I will receive no reimbursement.

A choice has to be made. Some would opt to lie because they are unprepared to make the right choice. Such an option will ultimately lead to other unethical and dishonest choices. They seek immediate success without thought for blessedness.

If I’ve decided to live by God’s Law, I’ll tell the truth. I may lose money but I retain my integrity and my blessedness.
An airline official sells me a plane ticket for my daughter and grandson. When I casually remark that Jake’s a toddler, the official confronts me with a choice.

“How honest are you?” he asks. “Why?” I respond. “If you insist on telling me that your grandson is over 3, I’ll have to charge you $125 more for his ticket. If you drop the subject I’ll ticket him as 2½. You can save a lot of money.”

It would be an easy thing to hedge on the age and save $125. It’s a choice. I say to the agent, “If I’m willing to lie to the airline to save $125, then you’ll never be sure in the future that I wouldn’t lie to you when it was again convenient. My grandson is over 3.” My honestly costs me $125.
It’s interesting that people will gripe about increased rates, and yet turn around and cheat the insurance company at every opportunity. Then they wonder why rates increase. Cheat the big companies and then wonder why prices sky-rocket.

Our little choices are part of a conglomerate of big choices the culture is making. Together they either make our national life prosper or blow away like straw in the wind.

Life is made up of choices. Choice-making is a battlefield all of its own. We find ourselves constantly in one of 3 categories: rebellion, indecision, or commitment and obedience. What choices are you making today?

 

MARANA THA