Options

Options

“Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way,
walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”
                                                                       Isaiah 30:21

Going into my favorite restaurant, National Coney Island, I’m faced with more options than I would prefer: do I go with breakfast for example, or have the always safe, dependable Hani Special? And if the choice is breakfast, the menu provides another set of options from blueberry pancakes and French toast to the usual winner of eggs over easy, rye toast, hash browns, and bacon crispy. But that is just one example of the many, many options we face throughout our day, from deciding how to spend our time and money to choosing what stores to shop in, and just recently, what to buy our loved ones for Christmas.

Having been given a free will, we’ve been given options by the Lord also. We can choose to follow Him or choose to go our own way; we have the option of staying on the fringes of Christianity or diving in and serving Him wholeheartedly and unashamedly. In reality, we have the option of sinning or walking in holiness, but, either way, we get to face the consequences of our choices. Every day and in so many situations, we are confronted with options in our walk with the Lord that demand a choice.

But let’s assume, and hopefully it is true, that each one of us really wants to do what’s best in the eyes of the Lord, no matter how difficult the call and regardless of how much of a sacrifice is asked. The question quickly becomes what is an option and what is not. Let me give you an example: freely and totally forgiving someone who wrongs us is a conscious choice we each have to make but for the believer, is it really an option? The second commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself” is another non-option as we seek to please the Lord in all we do. Looking at this thought, you quickly see that sharing the gospel, giving to the poor out of our goods and resources, praying for those going through difficulty and needing God’s help, and a myriad of other areas, are all commands to God’s people, not options to be considered based on our time and preferences.

And so the danger we have to stop and address is whether we have mistakenly treated part of God’s Word as a series of options that we can accept or reject, and, in so doing, missed out on much that the Lord has called His people to. As we move to a new year, fresh with renewed hopes and waiting opportunities, let’s each do it with a new openness to what God is asking of His people, knowing that His desire is only and always the very best for each of our lives.

Wishing you a happy and a fruitful new year!
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church