Each of us have a variety of choices that we are called upon to make every hour, and every day of our life. We are continually faced with decisions which we must make. We can choose to begin each day with a prayer, thanking Our Creator, The Lord Our God, or we can leave Him out of it.
We can smile and be pleasant to others or we can manifest the spirit of the devil and be curt, abrupt or rude. We can be thankful that we have a job, or we can consider ourselves as overworked and unappreciated. We can go the second mile with our brother or sister, or we can do only as much as we want to do.
So you see that each day of our life is really filled with choices for us. The power of choice we possess is perhaps the most wonderful gift of freedom that man can have. It is the one thing that forms the basis of our character,-the very habits which are the make-up of our entire life ,both here and in eternity. For it is in the choices that we make that we develop our strength or our weaknesses of character. How we choose determines how we judge and how we measure the important things in our life. Based on our choices, we make decisions which affect and contribute to our mental and spiritual development. It is also the basis upon which we determine our selections for our reading, our entertainment, our friendships, and all the other things which are a part of our daily activity. So we see that the days are filled with innumerable choices for us. However, it is not so much the "big things" but rather the many "little things" that control our life.
The problems we face in our life are basically two-fold: how we get along with other people and what we are disposed to do in our hearts. In Jesus` day the Pharisees had taken the commandment "thou shalt love thy neighbor" and added to it "and hate thine enemy" (MAT 5.43). So it was that they had predisposed hatred in heir hearts.
Many of the problems in the world today can be traced to governments which promote and foster hatred. More than 2/3 of the world are under such governments. As Christians we must learn that hatred,revenge,jealousy, and envy not only destroy character but also have no place in the heart of one who would call himself a Christian. It is through the disciplines that we apply in our life that our character grows in proportion to our choice to do right according to God`s laws. In turn, this growth matures and ripens through the knowledge of His Word that we acquire.
Knowledge is a gift, as are all gifts, from God. It is one of God`s ways of having us learn truth. When we close our minds to this avenue of broadening our minds, we become narrow-minded, bigoted and opinionated. As a result, we do not have the tools at hand with which we can make the right decisions in our life. So we wind up making those judgments that "feel right" or that follow "the path of least resistance." The irony of this way of life is that the Christian is not denied anything that is good for his life or happiness, whether it be for physical, mental or spiritual well-being. The person that grows in knowledge will have the mature judgment to discern this and will make the decisions that avoids evil and be able to resist the temptations in their life.
The Christian acquires this knowledge and understanding of what is the right thing to do, and a discernment of God's will by applying Bible principles in their every day life. We learn from this knowledge how to establish priorities and guidelines for the choices we are called upon to make. In Joshua's day, the Israelites were admonished to make a choice: "Choose you this day whom you will serve...." (Joshua 24:15. They had a choice to make, and it is the same choice that we are faced with today.
It is a fact of life that what keeps us from growing in wisdom, knowledge and stature are the things which are difficult to do,or which require sacrifices in our life. Laziness,carelessness,bad habits are only some of the things that seemingly make our life easier, but which are actually a detriment to the maturity of our mind, our body and our heart. For, if we follow the "easy way" or the 'easy things" in life, how can we expect to make the correct decisions if we have never learned to face the realities of our life.
Oftentimes we face a dilemma in our life, looking for a standard or guideline to follow. We have this avenue, this vehicle to guide our life , in the pages of the Bible. There is no other book like it in all the world, nor in all the history of mankind, to which we can turn and which will show us the pathway that we should follow. No other book is as alive as the Bible. No other book has so many important things to say to us and to guide our life.
The one who would dismiss the Bible as mythology or suggest that it was written for people who lived centuries ago is foolish and without discernment that the progress of humanity revolves around the knowledge contained within its pages. For no civilization exists for long that does not practice its fundamental principles of love. A long time ago, Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President, expressed it this way;
"The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourselves,-read not little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it. You will find it full not only of real men and women but also of things you have wondered about and been troubled about all your life, as men have been always; and the more you read, it will become plain to you what things are worthwhile and what are not; what things make men happy: loyalty,right dealings,speaking the truth, readiness to give everything for what they think their duty...When you have read the Bible you will know that it is the word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, your own duty." -