Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the amount of decisions you have to make? It seems every corned you turn there are more things to make a choice about. Some are very big, life changing decisions, like who you're going to marry, accepting/rejecting Christ; then there are smaller things, like what to wear in the morning. Every decision we make leads to another decision and another and another. Constantly making circles. It's quite exhausting. We get dizzy and finally just stop altogether.
One of the things you'll find repeated in the bible is the fact that we need to earnestly seek God. We have to go to Him for wisdom in hard situations; He is all-knowing and can give us guidance on what to do if we simply ask.
There is one choice that each of us has every day; "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?"
Seems simple when you're young and care free. As you get older, it's not quite as easy. You need to decide every day where God is trying to send you and from there, you have to make the choice whether or not you'll follow that calling. Whether it is something like going to college vs. staying home; getting a job, what kind of job to get, going on a mission trip vs. sharing Christ right where you are, whether or not you'll shine Jesus to others even if they're unkind vs. giving them what they give you; keeping the peace among your family vs. getting irritated every little thing that they do, etc, etc.
There are many times when we feel a little desperate. Sometimes overwhelmingly so. Could it be that we're fighting against what God wants for us? We all have a sense of right and wrong, and those of us who are Christians also have the Holy Spirit in us, which will tell us when something we're doing is going against God's will.
--- Is God trying to point you in the right direction but you're unwilling to listen to Him? ---
You see, I do this quite frequently. I know what God wants me to do, deep down I truly know, but I am afraid of taking such a drastically different path. I know and trust that God will be there for me, but I try to rely on my own strength and say it can't be possible with the things I'm good at or capable of doing. You know what the crazy thing that I learn every time is? I don't need to even think of what I do or don't have talent in, I'm not required to know certain things or be strong in certain areas. When God sends me, He gives me everything I need THROUGH Him.
I've heard many people ask one of two questions in my life:
#1- Why does God allow bad to happen to people?
#2- Why does God allow us to make the wrong decisions?
The answer? I call it "freedom's cost". Just as there are consequences in America for being so free, the same thing applies to Christianity. God doesn't wish for bad to happen, but rather made the choice long ago to give people the freedom to choose what they do in their life. Some may ask "Well, why can't He let us make our own choices, but stop us from making the ones that will hurt other people? We shouldn't all have to suffer for one person's bad decision." Well, to be of a faith truly built around freedom, God cannot make decisions for us. Good or bad; it's all on us. Because of sin, because of Adam and Eve's bad choice, it brought sin upon the world and we were given the most awful wonderful thing: freedom of choice.
--Now don't take this the wrong way, when I say "it's all on us" I don't mean we're alone and God won't help us through hard times. He is always there, like I said above, He will give us direction if we seek it.
When bad things happen, it means someone made the choice to listen to Satan and do the wrong thing. It was their choice; God couldn't just all of the sudden swoop down and tell them "Sorry, I'm taking over now. That choice just doesn't cut it." Even if our decisions break His heart, He still doesn't take our freedom of choice away.
Some say "Well, a loving God wouldn't allow these things to happen" but the painful truth is that He allows them to happen because He does love us. Freedom in life is freedom in Christ.
There have been countless times that I made poor choices because the devils ideas sounded better and easier than God's. I can be a pretty big chicken about some things believe it or not. If there's a choice that needs to be made and I know God wants me to do follow His guidance, sometimes I do just the opposite because the other road seems like I won't be hurt as much, I won't suffer as much pain or heartache...in the end, of course, I come out even worse than I thought the other would have done. God may not stop us from making the wrong choices, but He is certainly never gone from our life. He is always waiting there to pick us back up, love us and give us forgiveness and strength to move on.
Choices are inevitable. Until we reach heaven we will never free ourselves from them. It doesn't matter if you try every religion out there, free or imprisoned, you
will always have to make a choice: My way, or God's way.
It's freedom's cost.
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