Pick n Choose

Pick n Choose

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what
 is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
                                                                          II Timothy 3:16

A typical trip to Vince & Joe’s Fruit Market gives you the opportunity to pick and choose what you want as you walk through the store. The fruits are the first thing you pass and you get to sort through the nectarines and peaches, the melons and berries, picking out the  ones that look the ripest and that appeal to you the most. Next are the veggies and you get to select the head of lettuce you want, the tomatoes and broccoli that look best, with each person having their unique set of qualifications for what and how to choose.

Across the street is Kroger for the basics and, like everything else, we get to pick and choose. The breads are checked for dates so that you get the freshest, as are the milk and the meats. The number of cereal choices seems endless, from Sugar Smacks and Frosted Flakes to Wheaties and Cheerios, depending on the degree of health consciousness on any particular day. (And, of course, you need the slightly green bananas to add to the cereal, another important decision to make.)

But the problem we so often face is that picking and choosing is quite appropriate in the grocery store and at the mall, but doesn’t apply when it comes to the Word of God. The increasingly modern trend is to carry a consumer mentality into our relationship with the Lord, deciding for ourselves how we will serve the Lord, which aspects of Christianity we will follow and adhere to, and what works best for our family and lifestyle. We have made God’s commands into personal decisions as if the choice was ours when the call of God remains, as always, a call to a life of complete, unwavering obedience to the Word of God.

Faithfulness in tithes and offerings and church attendance, sharing the good news about Jesus with others and having a consistent daily devotional life, not to mention how we treat people, our attitudes and the words we speak, have all fallen from areas of obedience to the Word of God into the quagmire of “what works best for me”. And the results in the lives of believers have been sadly and silently devastating. My encouragement to you is to leave any “pick n choose” mentality that has entered into your walk with the Lord at the cash register. The truly blessed life is one of complete obedience to the whole Word of God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church