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Transcript:
We all have the freedom to choose. God gives each and every person on earth free will. That being said, the choices we make day to day affect not only our lives but the lives of others. Friends, family, co-workers, and schoolmates are all affected by our choices.
How do our choices affect our walk with God? How can our choices affect our faith?
In today’s message, I would like to dive into 3 situations that can occur in our day-to-day lives where we have the freedom to choose. Let’s examine the pros and cons of each choice and learn more about how our choices can nurture our walk with God, or move us further away from Him.
We all have the freedom to choose. God gives each and every person on earth free will. That being said, the choices we make day to day affect not only our lives but the lives of others. Friends, family, co-workers, and schoolmates are all affected by our choices.
How do our choices affect our walk with God? How can our choices affect our faith?
In today’s message, I would like to dive into 3 situations that can occur in our day-to-day lives where we have the freedom to choose. Let’s examine the pros and cons of each choice and learn more about how our choices can nurture our walk with God, or move us further away from Him.
#1 Now or Later. Often, we are presented with a situation where there is some action that could be taken by us and we are given the freedom to choose ‘now’ or ‘later’. This can show up in many scenarios. We have homework for school, a project that needs to be done at work, or even a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. In all of these situations, we have the freedom to choose ‘now’ or ‘later’. Putting off things we need to do until later feels good in the moment, but it may have a ripple effect to do more harm than good down the line. Postponing homework or a project may put you in the situation of rushing and producing less quality work. Putting the dishes off may be no big deal at the moment, but later there may be even more dishes and you may have an even more difficult time starting the task of cleaning them.
Another scenario I would like to present is choosing to help someone in need. There is a homeless epidemic in most cities all over the world and we have all seen homeless individuals in our path walking down the street. If there is a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk in your path, what do you typically do? If you are aiming to honor God, it may cross your mind ‘I should ask this person if I can offer them a meal’, but you have the freedom to choose ‘Now’ or ‘Later’. You may feel inclined to say in your mind, ‘I will help the -next- the homeless person I see’ or ‘I will help him when I am walking back later’. When this situation presents itself to you, I want to encourage you to act in the ‘Now’. Ask God at that moment if or how you can help this individual. God can and will touch our hearts with direction if we ask Him. You never know if God sent you to be the one individual to not walk around the homeless person you see and instead offer them a meal.
#2 Should I go with the flow? This next situation can be a real doozy. Let us say you are going to lunch with a number of co-workers. You all get a table at a cozy restaurant and chit-chat about work and personal lives. It is a Monday, so you are taking turns providing highlights about your weekend. One by one as each of your co-workers chimes in, stories are shared of one-night stands, the latest horror flick in theaters, and profanity-laden descriptions of activities with family and friends. One co-worker decides not to describe her weekend, but instead starts a profanity-filled tirade about her manager and how he gets on her last nerve.
So, it’s your turn. What do you do? Every single co-worker at the table has used foul language or shared details about elicit activities that do not honor God. You have the freedom to choose. Do you share your shopping night with a friend using profanity to fill in the details, or do you explain it in a way that honors God? Do you go with the flow so as to not bring attention to yourself or do you stand out as someone that speaks differently from the rest?
I encourage you to stand firm in your walk with God and honor your heart. Do not do as others do simply to fit in. In fact, people will notice that you did not use profanity so casually. Over time, your profanity-free speech may bring about a change in the atmosphere of your conversations. For one, co-workers may learn to cease using profanity out of respect in your presence. Some may even be curious about your ability to not go with the flow and find it in their heart to seek out the reasons you do what you do! Let your behavior stand out as a beacon of light in a world of darkness.
#3 I can, but should I? The last situation I want to talk about today is the scenario where it is just you, alone and you are faced with making choices about participating in the comforts created by man. Don’t get me wrong, not all creations of man are harmful and most do not go against God’s precepts, but there are still many areas in our society and culture that are considered the ‘norm’ but do not honor God.
For this scenario, feel free to pick your poison. The entertainment industry (TV, movies, and music), drugs and alcohol, wealth, and social status are just a few to consider.
I am going to pick music and share with you my experience. For me, this was one of the areas I made such a dramatic shift in what I choose to listen to day to day. Once upon a time, in my 20s and 30s, I was far from God. I was swimming in the world and all that it has to offer. I did not pray, I did not read the Word. I did not have a relationship with God as far as I was concerned.
I loved music at the time. I loved music that was perfectly fine in the eyes of God, such as smooth jazz and classical music. But I also loved music that most certainly kept me at a distance from God. I loved hip-hop and one of the artists I used to love was Notorious B.I.G.. He was a famous ‘East Coast’ rapper who was gifted and talented and had some of the most explicit lyrics you will ever hear in music. At the time, I chose to immerse myself in the world of hip-hop and all that came with it – the glorification of sex, drugs, and violence in the most explicit language you can imagine – and I loved it.
Fast forward to the last 10 years. I am a Christian and saved, I am devoted and dedicated to a relationship with God. Every once in a while I think back to my Notorious B.I.G. days and I think back to how that music made me feel. Lyrics aside, it was among the most creative and beautifully orchestrated beats that I have ever heard – even to this day.
So, when I am driving down the road and I open Spotify to play music today, I have the freedom to choose. I am all alone, just me and God. I can choose to play my faith-based worship playlist or I could reminisce and play a track from Notorious B.I.G.’s album ‘Ready to Die’. They both invoke a stirring in me. But what is being stirred?
I fully recognize, that at this point in my life, I am enjoying a close and very intimate relationship with God and that His light shines brightly in me. I feel His anointing in me to share encouragement through this ministry and I feel His blessing in every facet of my life. I recognize that when I listen to worship music, the Spirit in me is stirred and I feel God’s amazing love inside of me.
While I can choose to listen to a track from B.I.G’s album ‘Ready to Die’, I won’t because the stirring I feel when I listen to those beats is not of God, but of the world. In fact, I once tried to listen to a track from that album when I was driving down the highway just a few years ago and there was a conflict in me I could not describe. My brain was trying to enjoy the beats but the lyrics were stressing my spirit until I turned it off.
The moral of this story is that just because you can choose anything to experience in the world, does not mean you should. I encourage you to be mindful of the types of things you allow yourself to see, hear, eat, and drink. I encourage you to choose the things that honor God and at the very least do not conflict with the anointing and blessing God seeks for you.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we discussed 3 situations where our freedom to choose plays a role in our walk with God. We considered how to approach a scenario in which we can choose to act on something now or later. We considered how to approach a situation where your behavior and actions would defy the status quo. We also discussed that just because you can, does not mean that you should. That we should be mindful of the things we partake of in the world that were created by man.
I want to encourage you to pause when you choose between the world and that which honors God. When you are all alone, you are also with God. I want to encourage you to prioritize your walk with God so that you may prioritize the benefits that come from a close and intimate relationship with Him.
God’s ways are not our ways and His blessing and anointing on your life cannot and will not co-exist with the things of the world that do not honor Him.
I believe we will experience a stronger union with God when He sees that we could have chosen a path that would have been ‘easier’ or more pleasurable at the moment and would not honor Him, but we choose differently. I believe He is overjoyed when we choose to honor Him as we walk in the world, even if it feels challenging and less pleasurable at the moment.
Seek God’s ways and find yourself on track to realize the blessings He has in store for you.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Both The Freedom To Choose
