Choices - God makes a difference

According to many politicians choice is hugely important. Giving people a choice is a sign of success and wealth. It has almost become an article of faith – almost a human right. Think of schools, medical care, bus services, what we watch on-line.

One of the major debates is over abortion. The argument is between the pro-choice and the pro-life camps. “Choice” has become the main reason to justify abortion – and euthanasia for that matter.

A friend of mine returned from the mission field. They had been living in Nepal for over 10 years and were spending a year in Leeds studying. She told me how the first time she went into the supermarket she had to run out again because after living simply for 10 years the sheer amount of choice overwhelmed her.

I found 27 different lines of soap in Tescos the other day, amongst them were:

Tesco Cocoa Butter And Honey Soap
Tesco Bath Soap Lemon
Cussons Mild Cream Soap Original
Dove Soap Extra Sensitive
Imperial Leather Gentle Care
Wrights Coal Tar Soap Original

Philosophically I am not convinced that having choice is so important or such a good thing but nevertheless life faces us with a constant stream of choices, good or bad.

Some are really important, some are incidental. Some are:

1. Moral choices – between right and wrong.

2. Ecological and ethical choices (chocolate/investment/vegetarian).

3. Priorities and what is important in your life (career, family, money).

4. Others are style/taste/desire.

And some of us make choices quickly and easily and others agonise over them. Some of us have a track record of making good choices, others not so.

What are some of the choices you face?

Marriage partner/boyfriend/girlfriend
Waiting till marriage for sex
Abortion
Divorce
Keeping promises
Career/Jobs
Use of money
Use of time
What colour to wear
What shall I put in my sandwiches today
Which film to see/book to read
Where to go on holiday
How much to drink
How to fill in my expenses
What speed shall I drive at
Which politician should I vote for
Which housegroup to go to

Has God got a preference? Do we need to check every decision with Him. When it talks about God’s plan for our life or God’s will, does that extend to all of these choices?

Greg Downes, the theologian, talks about three different approaches:

niagra The tight-rope: God’s way is tightly defined and you have to obey him step by step otherwise you will fall off.

1-Harewood-House-l The guest in the country house: you can wander round in life with huge amounts of freedom but there are some parts where the alarm goes off if you step over the line.

taxi The taxi driver: you have a map and some understanding of the city. You are free to take whichever route seems wise but every now and again you call for help or are warned about congestion.

How does God make a difference to my choices?

He is interested in your choices
He will help you make good choices
Following him will change the way you choose

1. He is interested in your choices

Genesis 1 tells us that God looked on His creation and said, “It is good”. He made us and is intimately interested in each of us.

We do not worship the distant gods of mythology or eastern mysticism who are looking the other way, pre-occupied with the affairs of the heavens, ignorant of our names and the small things of our lives.

We worship a God, who is facing us, coming close to us, sends His son to live and die amongst us and fills us with His Holy Spirit.

Psalm 139

1.You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Jeremiah 29

11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

When we are facing decisions and choices, he is right beside us willing us to make good choices.

Hint:Use your God-given common sense

2. He will help you make good choices

When we know the outcome

Sometimes when we make a choice we know what the outcome will be so the decision is over whether that is an outcome we want. We can try on some jeans to see if our bum looks big in them. Having eaten a Lamb Balti several times before, I know what it is going to taste like. The manifesto of a political party gives us a good idea of what they will do if we vote them in. If you go online to look at porn you know you are going to be turned on and have appetite partially satisfied but you also know you are going to feel soiled the next day and have images in your mind which will poison your thoughts.

I don’t honestly think the Lord minds whether I have a Lamb Balti or a Chicken Jalfrezi. And because He thinks you are great it doesn’t really matter to Him if your bum does look big in that.

God is definitely interested in politics and your engagement with it. In our country, with a robust democracy in place His main concern is that you take part in the political process. He has given you a mind to think with. We are called to engage with the issues and use your best judgement and personal values to decide how to vote.

When it comes to moral issues, God has given us a conscience which guides us to make the right decision. If we repeatedly ignore our God-given conscience we eventually lose the ability to see the choice at all.

This is what has happened in the banking world as we have seen this week with Barclays Bank being fined £290m because they fixed the bank interest rate on which the world relies for millions of financial transactions. Deep in the trading rooms of the bank, people were making individual small choices in a culture which had lost sight of simple honesty. It has become so endemic that they can’t even see the error of their ways – made most obvious by the refusal of their boss, Bob Diamond, to resign or even apologise.

You know you shouldn’t look at porn, have sex outside your marriage, fiddle your expenses, inflate results at work, cut corners in business – but each time you do it and justify it to yourself the lies you tell yourself become more and more plausible. Eventually you can’t tell the difference between right and wrong.

Romans 2:4

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

When it comes to moral choices, God makes a difference. He will gladly sharpen our conscience, give us people to whom we can be accountable, reveal truth and honesty through scripture. He is always there wanting to help and as soon as we turn to Him in repentance, we find our relationship with Him flourishes again.

When we don't know the outcome

But often, the difficult choices are where we can’t see the outcome. If I marry this person will we be happy? If I don’t, will I be happy? If I join this church is it going to be a good place for us in the long run? If I put money in this investment will I get anything back? If I take this job or study this subject where will my career take me?

God makes a difference here because He can do what we can’t. He has the Big Picture. Not only does he know your past but He knows your future.

Psalm 139

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This raises all sorts of interesting questions about how God can know my future and yet leave me free to make my own choice. But the key point is that when we ask God to help us in making choices where the outcome is not clear, or in our control, we have to trust Him with the result.

God has a plan for your life

We have to learn what he has called us to. As Andy Stanley says, “everyone gets somewhere, some people get there on purpose”.

Where are you going? Where is God calling you? What sorts of things is He saying are most important for your life? This isn’t about achievement or “success”, it is about finding out what God has for you in this life.

Someone may be called to be a businessman, providing jobs for others. Someone else may be called to raise children. Someone may be called to a life of extending forgiveness to those who have hurt them.

Learning about God’s plan for your life will help you make good choices. Not based on the seductions and easy fixes of this world but based on an eternal perspective with eternal benefits.

Hints:
The best decisions are taken with a long range perspective
Do a little of the right thing over a long period of time and become wise

3. Following Jesus, God’s son, will change the way you make choices

When you involve God in your life, when you place your life in His hands and start to follow His Son Jesus, everything changes.

When we enter Godly life we choose to get brain-washed – instead of pouring rubbish and dregs into our minds and hearts we start to immerse ourselves in good, clean, fun stuff. If your brain is being regularly washed in good, clean things then your thought processes and the way you approach choices will inevitably change.

Philippians 4:8

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

You are what you eat. If you eat rubbish your health will be worse. If you eat and drink well your health will improve. When you follow Jesus your conscience sharpens, the wisdom of scripture leaps out at you, there is power to change and discover a purpose in life. You start to hear His voice.

Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’

God will guide you and help you with decisions in lots of ways: through the voice of His Holy Spirit just like that.

Through the wisdom of the bible – as you read and imbibe more and more you will become wiser in your decision making. The bible has wisdom for every significant decision you will ever face, except perhaps whether to have Lamb Balti or Chicken Jalfrezi.

Through the counsel of Godly friends and leaders.

He will speak to you in significant and obvious ways sometimes – but always asking you to take a risk, a step of faith.

When you follow God’s Son, Jesus, you will change the way you make your choices. It will be more and more difficult to fiddle your expenses or watch something dodgy on TV. Unlike the traders at Barclays bank, you won’t be able to do the wrong thing almost by accident.

Choices - God makes a difference