Our Daily Choice

All of us who are Christians can look back to a specific time in our life when we made the choice to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. But being a follower of Christ is a daily decision. Joshua told the children of Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve . . .” (Joshua 24:15).

Every day when I wake up, I have a choice to make: Will I live for God, or will I live for myself? Our natural tendencies would lead us to live selfish lives, doing what pleases our flesh. There are many distractions—so many ways our enemy has to pull us away from doing what is right. Choosing to please the Lord in our daily walk takes a conscious decision. And it is only when we choose to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit that we are able to please our Father.

Because we live such busy lives, it is easy to get up each morning and “hit the ground running,” without taking the time to fellowship with the Lord and get His direction for the day.

How much better our days are when we take a few moments to consciously decide, “Today, I will follow Jesus.” Joshua said it best, “. . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15).

Scripture for Reflection

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

A Heart for the Outcast

This post is written by my brother David.

I was talking with a teen from church one day during this past school year.  He was telling me of recent events for him at school and how he gets picked on a lot for his medical disabilities and some of his learning issues.  Through a course of events he ended up in ISS (in school suspension).

He told me of that experience and how he really did not like being inside the closed-in cubicle all day.  However, he also said, “…but you know what…I kinda liked it…..no one picked on me today.”

I get tears in my eyes every time I think about how miserable that must be.  For him to live day by day and actually prefer to sit in a claustrophobic box rather than deal with the outside pressures of such condescending cruelty.   A well-known and often-quoted scripture is John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  But do we really in our hearts believe and accept ‘whosoever’?  Or do we ourselves look down upon others because of their race, handicaps, social status, family history, past sins, or any other thing that makes us feel we are better than THAT person.

I pray we can all receive the heart of God for the lonely and the destitute around us.

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, YOU DID NOT DO FOR ME.’  (Matthew 25:44-45 NIV, emphasis added.)