Choices: The Mundane and the Consequential (Devotion 2.3)

Choices are something we are faced with every single day.  We make them, often without thinking about them.  Sometimes we don’t feel like we have a choice, but in reality, we made the choice anyway.  It can be really difficult when there are multiple options in our choices.  This is displayed in way too many households, friendships, partnerships and the like today.  It begins with a familiar and almost haunting sentence…”what do you want to eat?”  It is a question that is asked way too often, likely to end in giving up, giving in, or just settling.  I can’t imagine how many times this question is asked in a day.  Because most of us are not actually hungry, this is more of an issue of what would seemingly make us happy in the moment.  It is one of the most difficult questions because while there seems to be nothing in our cabinets, the options are way too vast.  We are spoiled.

There are some choices which are not so mundane and frivolous.  We are faced with choices of where we will work, if we should marry at all and if so, to whom, where we will live, and where we will be educated.  There choices have more consequences and outcomes are more serious.  They are still not permanent, though.  We can change jobs or move homes or go back to school for a different degree.  We may find the love of our life or find we are best alone.  They are choices of a higher caliber.  They carry more importance.

And then there are choices which make an even greater impact than all of these.  In the Bible, the leader and follower of God, Joshua, challenges the people of God – choose this day… Choose on this day… and keep choosing… Whom will you serve?  It is a simple question with consequences which affect every area of their lives.  It is a question we continue to ask ourselves today.  Whom will I serve?  All too often, the answer is me.  I will serve me.  And yet, the challenge is to serve God.  Joshua reminds the people all God has brought them through.  He reminds them how powerful God is.  He helps them to remember the faithfulness, even when they weren’t.  

To choose to serve God is a life which is full of love and compassion, which isn’t always welcomed.  It is a life of kindness and patience, self-control and joy.  But it isn’t easy.  And we must continue to choose…on a regular basis.  

In the end, our actions reflect whom we have chosen to serve.  What does your life say?  Whom do you serve?  Today, I choose the Lord.