BBD 07.22.13 Making Choices (Classic)

#1 · July 22, 2013, 10:34 am

Quote from Forum Archives on July 22, 2013, 10:34 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The
Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 15 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than
16,000 subscribers across the world.

You can
leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is
a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of
all of the pages.

The Burning Bush Devotional

14,000 Subscribers
to the Email Devotional

Classic from 2006

07.22.13

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 © 2006-2013. Ed
Wrather. 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.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
No matter what the size your church, Ed will come on a love offering basis for
a revival or to share his testimony in the continental United States. You can
make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or WratherEd@gmail.com
View LinkedIn profile with endorsements at
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of
prayer - please pray for me.).

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group.
The group began in 1998 and is made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo
devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may
subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is
only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The
Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 15 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than
16,000 subscribers across the world.

You can
leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is
a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of
all of the pages.

The Burning Bush Devotional

14,000 Subscribers
to the Email Devotional

Classic from 2006

07.22.13

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 © 2006-2013. Ed
Wrather. 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.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
No matter what the size your church, Ed will come on a love offering basis for
a revival or to share his testimony in the continental United States. You can
make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or WratherEd@gmail.com
View LinkedIn profile with endorsements at
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of
prayer - please pray for me.).

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group.
The group began in 1998 and is made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo
devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may
subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is
only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org