Why Is It So Hard To Choose?

One of the most brutal and paralyzing realities of life is that of choices.

Yes, we make all kinds of choices every day. Many are natural: I’m thirsty, so I choose to drink a cup of coffee, a soft drink, a glass of water. I’m getting a bit drowsy at my desk, so I take a brisk five-minute walk, or I take 20 minutes for a power nap. I choose to bring my lunch, or instead grab a quick indigestible fast food snack, or eat with a friend, or just have another glass of water.

Those are all easy choices. They each have consequences, but not especially harmful. So, we generally do not consider the consequences for these things. We choose. We go on with life.

Some choices are much more serious and require forethought or careful research. Examples might include making a major purchase such as a refrigerator or oven, a car or a house. With sufficient research we feel confident that our choice has minimized the risk of future disappointment and needless costs.

Still, other choices are quite daunting. It’s just not possible to be a doctor and a fireman and a baseball pitcher all at the same time. There has to be a career choice. While many people change careers, they choose one at a time. And each potential career comes with risks. At the very start there is the uncertainty of making it onto a chosen career path. The required intelligence or skill or creativity might be more than a person possesses or can reasonably develop.

Making a career choice also comes with the risk of failure. We all know that failure in one’s career is far more serious than ordering the wrong meal at the drive-thru. A failed career will most likely have long-lasting consequences, not to mention the emotional stress of failure.

A choice to go down one path means that other paths are not chosen. Our mind tells us that we will miss out on some things because of the paths we did not choose. “Would I have been a better dentist than a fireman?!”

The same fears enter into choosing a mate. A young adult thinks, “What if I choose the wrong person to marry?” Remember this: God rules, not destiny and He allows you to choose. Do you know why your choice for a mate will work? You choose faithfulness! Then, you apply genuine love with all the choices in marriage.

Every time we stand at a ‘Y’ in the road to make a choice, we decided to go down one path and not all the others. In doing so we accept one set of unknowns over others.

I find it completely mystifying that some people do not choose Jesus? Yet, for those who are in Christ Jesus there are promises from our Creator.

• Provisions in this life (Matthew 6:33)
• A new start (Romans 6:4; John 3:3)
• Adoption as sons of God (Romans 8:16)
• God’s Spirit to intercede for us and help us (Acts 2:38; Romans 8:26; John 14:16)
• A direct line to God (Jeremiah 33:3)
• Purification from sin (2 Peter 1:9)
• Partaking in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)
• Protection from Satan (1 Corinthians 10:13)
• Forgiveness if there is sin (1 John 1:9)
• Resurrection from the dead (Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 15)
• Eternal life (John 3:36; 11:35)

Faith in self comes without promise, but only uncertainties. Self-love gives me comfort only in knowing that I am in the majority. Yet, for the few who choose Jesus, there is great confidence in God’s promises. And there is life...eternal!


Mark Stinnett

November 20, 2022

Children, You Have a Promise!

Can you think of a time when a promise was made to you, but it was conditional? What I mean by conditional is that the promise the other person made was dependent on you doing something first.

People make promises all the time. Sometimes it is called a deal. For example, after verbally explaining what each will do for the other, two people shake hands saying, “We have a deal.” We might also call it an agreement, or say, “You have my word.” In formal business transactions, contracts are drawn up and signed.

There are many promises in the Bible and it is encouraging to know that God has never broken a promise. It is also encouraging to know that there is one promise that is specifically directed to children. Are you familiar with it?

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

—Ephesians 6:1-3

Paul was actually quoting from the Ten Commandments. For that reason some people think that it does not apply to followers of Jesus today. However, the specific audience of Paul’s letter was/is Christians. God reissued to Christians an earlier promise made to Israelite children. The promise is simple: If you will honor your parents, you will have a good and long life.

Now, I cannot imagine that God meant for Israelite children to follow only that instruction. In other words, it makes no sense for an Israelite to turn to idols yet demand that God keep His promise because he had honored his parents. A person should not think that God can be manipulated.

My sisters and I are still the children of our parents even though our parents are deceased. We should not think that there is an expiration date on God’s instruction. So, the instruction to honor your parents doesn’t end when you grow up or even when your parents die.

Some parents are difficult to honor. However, that is no excuse to dishonor them.

God’s instruction is not limited to Mother’s Day and Father’s day, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. Honoring parents is for every day.

Honor parents by obeying without complaining, without arguing and without becoming angry.

Never complain about your parents or talk about them negatively to your friends.

Honor parents by offering to help instead of waiting until they ask (force) you to help.

Show appreciation for the free food, free room, free transportation, free clothing and laundry service, etc. (Start by saying, “Thank you.”)

When you get your first job as a teen, in all likelihood it will cost your parents something, usually for transporting. Offer to share the cost.

Use your money, not your parent’s money, to buy gifts for your parents. Use your own money, not your parent’s money, for personal goodies (snacks, entertainment, etc.).

After moving away from home, continue to honor your parents by visiting them, communicating with them, sharing your life with them, and by speaking kindly about them to others.

Showing honor is not limited to my short list of suggestions. So remember, this is God’s command, and it comes with a promise for a good and long life. Honor your father and mother.

Mark Stinnett

May 29, 2022

Faith or Fear?

Legs dangling off the edge of the roof, his dad urged him to slide off the roof into his arms. The distance from the boy’s feet and his dad’s reach was no more than a foot, but it might as well have been a mile. “Just drop off the roof and I’ll catch you,” his dad kept saying. The boy was unable to climb up, but too afraid to drop.

Minutes passed and he finally pushed through his fear and dropped off the roof...into His dad’s arms. Fearfully vulnerable; ultimately confident.

Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is one of the greatest obstacles to faith. The Bible is full of testimonies of faith, but faith is sometimes misunderstood.

For some people faith is a belief conjured up in the mind with no reason to believe other than desire. It is as if to say, “I want to believe, so I will believe.” It is the boy with legs dangling, but only imagining that someone will catch him.

Faith in God is not that way.

In the book of Joshua a number of remarkable faith events are recorded:

• Encamped a few miles from Jericho, the Israelites were instructed by God to circumcise all the males, the sign of the covenant between God and Israel’s forefather Abraham. Yet, Israel’s army would be incapacitated. Vulnerable!
• Afterward, Israel was instructed to celebrate the Passover which was followed by a seven-day feast; a celebration while unprotected and in full view of the enemy. Vulnerable!
• Israel traveled to the heart of enemy territory, out in the open and unprotected, to hear a proclamation from God. Vulnerable!
• The Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh wished to settle in the desirable land to the east of the Jordan River. The arrangement was agreeable, but only if their fighting men would join forces with their fellow Israelites against the enemies in Canaan. The conquest of the land of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership took 5-7 years and there is no indication that the men of the tribes east of the Jordan went home to check on their families. Their families: Vulnerable!

Why? Why did Israel comply with the circumcision, with the Passover, the public reading of the blessings and cursings? Why did the men of the tribes to the east of Jordan leave their families behind for 5+ years? Why did Israel leave themselves vulnerable time after time?

Faith. But what kind of faith did Israel possess?

Israel did not enter Canaan with a made-up desire to believe. They were not motivated by blind faith. They followed their God in faith.

The voice of God that left them in what seemed to be extremely vulnerable situations was the same voice that had commanded the plagues of Egypt; the same voice that commanded Moses as he parted the Red Sea; the same voice that commanded the destruction of the army of the Pharaoh of Egypt; the same voice that provided food and water in the wilderness for forty years; the same voice that defeated the Amorite kings east of the Jordan; and the same voice that parted the waters of the Jordan.

Israel believed in the voice of God who had been their protector and provider. He had kept His promises to them and their forefathers.

This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 

—1 John 2:25

Fear turns our hearts to the world we see; faith keeps our eyes focused on His promise. When you feel vulnerable and cannot see, trust His voice. He has promised!

Mark Stinnett

May 8, 2022

Promises

Have you ever seen a TV drama in which a brave parent, policeman, or concerned adult makes a promise to a child:
     "I will not let anyone hurt you; I promise."
     "We will find the people who did this; I promise."
     "I will return before springtime; I promise."

I know, it's television, but I cringe every time I hear it: "I promise."

Can anyone make promises like that?

'TV Land' is not reality. In the real world promises are sometimes kept and sometimes not. It can be difficult to keep our promises to be on time or attend a child's activity. LIFE happens and we sometimes unintentionally break a promise.

When people make bold promises like the 'TV promises,' they seem more like fantasy, not reality. Yet, God made some astounding promises, and they are no fantasy.

Just think back to ancient Israel in the Old Testament and God's warnings against idolatry. Those warnings included His promised action against Israel if they persisted in their idolatry. In His warnings God actually promised Israel three chances to turn back and make things right. Ultimately, if they would not turn from idolatry he warned that he would give them over to a foreign power as captives: another promise. (Read His promises in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 4.)

By the time of Daniel God's promises of warning were history. God's people had been idolatrous and had been taken from their homeland by the king of Babylon...according to promise. They would remain in captivity for 70 years, yet another promise.

The 9th chapter of the book of Daniel is a beautiful prayer in which Daniel recognized the failure of his people because of their idolatry. A reading of the text makes it clear that Daniel had an intimate knowledge of God's instruction and His promises in the Law of Moses. Not only did he understand that the Babylonian captivity was a promise that God had kept, he also recognized that there was a solution based on promise.

O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open Your eyes and see our despair. See how your city--the city that bears Your name [Jerusalem]--lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.
--Daniel 9:18 (New Living Translation)

How did Daniel know to appeal to God's mercy? How did he know to appeal for forgiveness and restoration? Long before that time God had already promised that he would listen to such a plea.

God had not only warned the Israelites with promised discipline; He had openly shared with them the way to repair their broken relationship with Him. His solution was nothing less than promised acceptance and return to their land if they would return to him.

Many people merely see God as a rule maker. Yet the Bible is full of promises. Yes, there are strong promises of warning for those who turn away from Him. However, there are wonderful promises of salvation, acceptance and hope for those who respond to God in faith and humility. And God's promises are truly out of this world!

May we stand in AWE of our God who has given us promises; our God who does not lie!

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
--Proverbs 9:10

Mark Stinnett