Choice and consequence is an incredibly large part of our lives, yet we don’t hear too much about it. We hear so much about God’s grace, forgiveness and mercy which are absolutely amazing and I’m very glad that God has those characteristics! Where would any of us be without those attributes? But what we must realise is, that even though God will forgive any sin that we confess and repent of, we may have to live with some of the consequences of the choices WE made. Our life is about our choices! Where we are today is because of the choices we made. It’s also fair to say that some of our consequences might be because of someone else’s choices. You may have had a disastrous childhood, you may have been abused, neglected, rejected by a parent. These things happen and they are tragic and do have an affect on our adult life if we don’t redeem it. When we become Christians, we can do something about it. We can’t continue to blame parents, aunties, uncles, teachers etc… We are the only ones who can do something about it. Your situation may have been brought on by a tragedy or a depression or by something someone said but we cannot continue to blame other people for our lives. We have to look in the mirror and decide that we are going to do something about it. I heard this once, if it is to be, it is up to me! Ten two letter words that are immense for our lives.
I was once at a conference and I was asked to pray for a lady. She was suffering with rejection – seems to be a biggy in the church – I asked her her story. Basically, she was left on a hospital step when she was just a few days old. How awful, how sad! BUT she was now in her 40’s and I couldn’t help but think, why haven’t you moved on from this yet? Why haven’t you got a victory yet? Isn’t God big enough to help us deal with the tragedies that come our way? Of course He is. You see, it’s not what happens to you, it’s what happens in you. It’s how you respond to a storm. The church, in my opinion, is being battered by the devil because we haven’t grasped the full message of the gospel. We are taught that His love is unconditional, and it is, again, thank you God!! BUT his blessings are absolutely conditional! All of his promises come with a clause and if we don’t live by the clause, we can’t expect the promise. Fair enough I think. Our choices are a massive part of how our life will turn out.
Imagine that your life is a piece of string. If we make a wrong choice, then we tie a knot in that string. As soon as we realise we made a wrong choice, and we repent and get God’s forgiveness, we can undo that one knot very easily. If we continue to add knots to our ‘life’ then it’s going to get harder to undo. Not impossible, just harder! Christians who fall in a dramatic fashion, don’t do it at the first knot. They begin a journey with a first knot and, if they continue, it can end in devastation for the person and usually for their family too. Can God forgive and restore? Of course He can but there could be major consequences to face as a result.
For example, if a girl sleeps with a boy and she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she can fully repent and be sorry but she can’t give the baby back. It’s done. King David is a prime example of this lesson. He slept with another man’s wife, she got pregnant but the child died. Talk about a serious consequence. But then, because of David’s repentance, God gave him Solomon! The wisest king on earth. Solomon made some terrible choices too but it was said of him that previous statement.
Have you or has someone you know got lots of knots they need to undo? It can be done, but it may take some time. Get alongside them, don’t judge, help them turn their life around one knot at a time. Remember, nothing is impossible for those who believe!
Have an amazing knot free week!!! Make good choices……