Life is replete with variety and choice. Right? A mechanic chooses from a plethora of specific tools for the job but knows there are optional ways and tools available. I recently read of a baseball player who uses a different glove style for different play positions. Did you know they are varied whether in the outfield or on the bases, pitcher, and catcher? Different needs require different gloves.
This is so true for just about every choice in life. From the cars you choose to drive to the gas you buy and the tires you ride on. Choices. Hairstyles to clothing styles. Music genres, and reading for enjoyment.
A golfer has many choices, but the concept is the same.
Why does it require a bag of golf clubs to play the game? Become a champion? Show your skills and talents? Imagine playing the current game with only a putter. It would take you a long time to go 400 yards with a club designed to tap the ball into the hole on a perfect green. I guess you could play that way, but that’s not the way the game was invented. There are clubs for long drives down the fairway. (Woods) An Iron is used to dig into the deeper grass and propel the ball forward. A Wedge has a particular purpose of lofting the ball over obstacles and out of sand traps. Then, you have the Putter.
A competition golfer carries only 14 clubs by rule, 3 kinds of wood, 8 irons (including the wedge), and the putter. This leaves them with two personal choice clubs for their style of play or the potential needs of the course. Overload your bag, and you are penalized!
In Life There Are Varied Choices
I woke up thinking about the choices we have ahead and the many pathways available to the destination. The variation comes primarily from the way you move to your ending. Not all choices are right, and some will create desperate moments. But if you’ve made a choice, then only you can change to a better path.
Last weekend we enjoyed fellowshipping with a ministering family who felt God’s direction to go to an island in the South Pacific. The pandemic has made things more difficult, and the choices available to their path are narrow. Prescribed by authority, there are only so many ways to get from here to there. It’s expensive. The culture is different, and the pathway to meet God’s calling is heavily laden. But when God calls, you move! He will make the way!
We think nothing about the variety of choices we have. Multiple stops along the shopping trip will get us to everything we need. That process started changing in 1997 when Amazon came on the scene, at first selling only media (books, videos, etc.), but then they branched into every other facet of choice for the buying public. They don’t sell everything. But most of what I need for home use is available through them.
A specific product arrived yesterday. Local stores normally carry it, but they’ve been out for months. It was a little bit more expensive than it has been, but it’s not available anywhere close to me, so I bought it. The packaging? Well, they could have packed a dozen widgets in the same box! It ain’t perfect, but it did arrive quickly!
All Destinations Have Rules
Some think that all paths lead to the same destination. Live in any country, deal with any political system, need something unique, and you find that the rules are as varied as the choices you’ve made.
There are some that believe they can live any way they want and they’ll still slide into Home Plate, Safe!
If you can make the right choices and be safe, can you make wrong choices and expect the same result? Were that to be true we should be able to overdraw our bank account every day and not be penalized! Eat anything and not worry about consequences. Jump off any building and no we’ll land safely. Drive any speed and not worry about the outcome.
Well, you get my picture.
One voice from a religion class many years ago said something like this: “All religions lead to the same place, only your pathway to there is different.” Quickly, this was discounted by all. Why? What is allowed for some, can be disallowed for others? Can it be that God has provided a choice based on personality, country, language, or culture? Probably not.
My Destination
My destination to God is real. The path is prescribed in the Bible. Opposed to a narrow pathway, Jesus describes a broad path that leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14) You may choose your religious book to tell you how to live, and I may choose mine, but if we are true to the tenants of our beliefs, then we probably realize one of us is right, and not the other one!
To live the life of Christ,
I find there are words, actions, and sentiments
that change my outlook on life.
I choose to live the life!
Joshua told Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15), and this was the culmination of a generation of time to leave Egypt behind.
The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
(Deuteronomy 7:7-8 NKJV)
After many quit following Jesus, he asked his closest followers, “Will you leave me also?” (John 6:67-68) Peter responded, “To whom could we go?”
What would be your answer?
Let’s Make Righteous Choices
As a pastor, I focus on laying out the best choices available. Many do not listen as leaders see everywhere and from every position possible (including business and politics). People hear the siren song of choice and make choices because they are found listening to other voices.
The Bible shows this to be the way of many every day, all the time. Choices. Are wrong choices being made? Good choices? Sure. That’s life. Will the path lead to destruction? Possibly. There’s always a future option that brings us back into that narrow path Jesus describes.
It’s almost like choosing whether to vaccinate or not. Each option has results, and not every result works for every person. Well, maybe it’s not exactly like vaccination, but I’m sure you get my drift. Those who follow the “science” are making a choice that, once received, they will not be able to undo. Those who choose not to vaccinate may practice all the safety measures, and they could still get the virus. You’ve made your choice!
I pray that wise choices will be made every day by all God’s people everywhere. That’s my prayer, and I’m sticking to it!