BBD 01.19.06 Making Choices
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
The old website is at http://www.theburningbush.org
Several devotional booklets are now available for free download in PDF
format at the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.
Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 400 (currently 497) wonderful people
make up this group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please sign the GuestMap at The Burning Bush website. You can plant your
country's flag on the map and leave a message. You can find it on the front
page at http://www.theburningbush.org
The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 456 new subscribers since November 1, 2005!!
01.19.06
Making Choices
...so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the Law and in the Prophets. I have hope in God, which they
themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both
of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a
conscience without offense toward God and men. - Acts 24:14b-16.
Have you noticed how some people continually have a difficult time making
good choices in life? Two men in Reseda, California made an especially bad
choice when they were picking out a car to carjack. The car they chose was
occupied by two FBI agents on a stakeout. One of the carjackers was killed
and the other wounded. Then there were the four men who robbed a bank in
Georgia. After they made it outside with the money, they hurried to a U-Haul
moving van to make their escape. That was another poor choice on top of the
terrible choice of robbing a bank! They were quickly caught and arrested.
The examples above are extreme but why do people make poor choices. Two men
that I went to school with, one the same age as me and one a year older have
both
been in prison for robbery. One man robbed a bank and the other has robbed
several convenience stores. They appeared to be as normal as everyone else
when they were younger. Perhaps a better question is why I still make the
poor choices that I do and why you sometimes do the same.
We can look at the life of the apostle Paul, after his encounter with the
Lord on the road to Damascus, and see an example of a life of good choices.
Paul tells the governor Felix that, "I myself always strive to have a
conscience without offense toward God and men." I think here we see why Paul
continually made good choices and we see how we can too.
The apostle Paul did not make a single good choice in his life but a string
of good choices. His encounter with Jesus Christ was the beginning of right
decisions and from that choice flowed more. Paul says he "always" strived to
keep his conscience in good condition. He did this and we can do this only
step by step as we walk with our Lord. Each decision builds upon previous
decisions whether they were good or bad. If we have a continual chain of
wise decisions, it is much more likely that our next decision will be wiser
still. If we have a continual chain of poor decisions, it is very likely
that our next choice will be even worse than the one before.
I think we can expand this to say that with each wise choice
it becomes easier to make more wise choices. I think it is also clear that
with each poor choice it becomes easier to make more poor choices. Whether
we make a little decision or a big decision, it is vitally important to the
maintenance of our conscience and our right relationship with God.
What do you do if you have been making a string of bad choices, bad
decisions? You cannot go back and change what you have done but you can
begin to strive as the apostle Paul did to make each decision a good one. If
you are a Christian 1 John 1:9 is always a good starting point. If you are
not a Christian, you need to have a Damascus Road encounter like that of
Paul coming to know Jesus as your personal Savior. Jesus says, "Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me (Revelation 3:20)."
Ask Jesus to come into your life, to forgive you of your sins, the bad
decisions you have made, and be your Savior and Lord.
Let us go forth today and strive to make good choices.
Copyright © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful resource. I would
like to encourage you to visit this great site at http://www.crossmap.com. Crossmap
has added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit
Crossmap's sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at
http://www.christianpost.com.
If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link to my free
links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free links is near the
bottom of the front page http://www.theburningbush.org.
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are posted at:
http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html
There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the devotionals are
archived associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a complete
archive at the Burning Bush website and the address for the archive is
http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You may subscribe to the pure text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org and you can unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Prayer Group. Send and receive prayer requests
to over 400 members. Send a blank email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Inspirational Group. Send and receive
inspirational material to over 100 members. Send a blank email to:
bbinspire-subscribe@welovegod.org
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Restoration and Recovery Group for those with
addictions or recovering from addictions. Receive devotionals and
inspirational material directed toward those with addictions. Send and
receive prayer requests. Over 200 members. Send a blank email to:
tbbrr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Intercede Life Group and pray for and help in practical
ways those who need help. To subscribe send a blank email to
interclife-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.