Choice!
As we watch with sadness as our fellow humans in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, and elsewhere struggle for basic needs and physical safety, we rightly feel gratitude to God for the beauty and security of our homes here. God’s plans for all our lives are greater than we can imagine, and those of us in places enjoying peace can only marvel at the blessings that surround us constantly, many of which we rarely take time to notice. One related blessing I don’t want to take for granted is the immense latitude I’ve been given to set priorities for myself; to tailor my surroundings to my preferences and set goals that I find meaningful and joyful.
Choice– what an amazing gift, only possible by the grace of the God who made us and wants us to engage with Him and all creation freely. God created us in His own image, which means we are creatures with our own wills and abilities, able to think and make decisions. While God occasionally intervenes in critical situations by hardening Pharaoh's heart or confusing the tongues of people scheming to build a tower to heaven, most of the biblical miracle stories we’re familiar with involve God tweaking nature by parting seas or healing physical ailments, not bending human minds. The great mystery of grace is how God draws us to Himself while maintaining our humanity and free will.
Since we are saved by grace and promised eternity with God, many of our choices on earth take on new importance. How will we behave as newly adopted children of God? How will we love our neighbors, and what will we do when we fall short of God’s standards? Jesus tells many parables about a right response to God’s love. Many of Paul’s letters to early churches detail what Christian behavior in the world should look like.
Some choices hold obvious moral value. Either we insist on telling the truth or we allow ourselves to lie when it’s convenient. We can steal or we can work or go without. I find it’s pretty easy to tell when something is morally wrong when I’m watching someone else make the call from the comfort of my couch or computer screen.
Fortunately, we also get to make dozens, maybe hundreds, of choices every day where there isn’t just one right thing to do. We can choose the red shirt or the blue one. We can drink coffee or tea.
And then there are the choices that fall somewhere in between.
How do we spend our time, including this hour right now? How will we divvy up our next paycheck? Seemingly innocuous daily decisions add up and reflect our hearts.
Right now, while I’m traveling through my thirties, dozens of lanes are open to me as I travel down the road. As Paul reminds us, “ ‘All things are permitted for me,’ but not all things are beneficial. “All things are permitted for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Cor 6:12). So maybe it’s okay to scroll through Facebook for another ten minutes… but is it helpful? The bigger decisions stack up even faster. Mr. Sense and I can choose to grow our family further, or enjoy being empty nesters before we hit our forties. We can save and invest aggressively, propelling us towards early retirement. We can spend our financial resources on travel and home improvement. God even leaves the door open for us to make foolish choices, like gambling our resources away or borrowing more than we can afford to buy things we don’t need.
Where is the line where “my preference” turns into sin? As stewards of God’s resources, we’re supposed to be living in the world, but not getting too comfortable. We can enjoy God’s gifts, but not gorge ourselves on worldly pleasures “where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal” (Matt 6:19).
This doesn’t mean I can’t have a favorite pair of shoes or splurge on a nice vacation. But these things are just temporary diversions and, at best, a chance for me to interact with my neighbors in a way that glorifies God. When my choices start to interfere with my true purpose, I’ve missed the mark.
With this in mind, I’m trying to focus on being vigilant in my decision making. I’m grateful to God for the chance to live in a place defined by safety and beauty, to be able to spend my time out of the office exercising and learning, to live in financial security.
Parents sometimes tell their picky eater children to finish what’s on their plates, because there are kids in other places who wish they had food like that. We should think of our time with our families and friends the same way, our ability to worship God in community without persecution. We should be overwhelmed with gratitude, and let that gratitude soak into all our choices, from the big morally significant ones to the little ones we barely think count.
