Chip Gaines said in his book “Capital Gains”, “The only difference between a painter and an aspiring painter is that willingness to put those inner urges into action.”
I might phrase that last part as “that willingness to pick up a paintbrush and lay done some paint”. And we could substitute any occupation.
For an aspiring writer, it would be “the willingness to sit and type some words.”
For Christians, we might say, “ the difference between living a defeated life and a victorious one is the willingness to diligently practice the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, sacrifice, silence, solitude, and service.”
Every choice we make as a Christian reflects God to other people.
Who are you reflecting by your choices?
I firmly believe that as many people have stated in dozens of different ways, “We are the product of our choices.”
The Israelites knew this well. They made a lot of wrong choices and very few right ones.
Joshua 24:15 New International Version (NIV)
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Sometimes God rescues us from our bad choices; sometimes He doesn’t.
He reminds them here that their ancestors had made some bad choices with whom they had decided to serve. In other words, haven’t you learned from your mistakes? You have an opportunity now to make the right choice.
Then he says, “But no matter what you decide, I and my family will serve the Lord.”
They made a commitment to God that day. They chose Him. Later though they made another choice that invalidated that first one.
But we musn’t be too hard on the Israelites. Too often we do the same thing and we haven’t been under slavery or roaming aimlessly around in the wilderness.
So who are you going to choose today? And if we say it’s God, then all our choices after that have to reflect Him. That means our habits, our spiritual disciplines, our tithing, our obedience, etc.
I think the decision to choose God is not just that one decision. It starts with that first one when we acknowledge Him as our Father and Jesus as our Savior, but after that it’s all those little choices we make throughout the day.
And those choices depend on whether we recognize the Father’s voice.
So today, let’s all take note of the lessons the Israelites didn’t learn. And let’s not wander around in our own wilderness for years and years. What a waste of time.
Anyway, God bless and I hope you have a good day.
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