Tough choices

If you are like me you have been well trained to want things your way. Everywhere we turn we are told that we should expect to have a myriad of choices available to us and that we should expect to "have our cake and eat it too". If we find that some company has failed to meet our demands we move on to another that will satisfy our desires. To do any less is perceived as irresponsible. 

It is very difficult to measure just how pervasive this is in our thinking- but we breathe this air from our very first breath. 

Unfortunately this kind of thinking doesn't translate well into the Christian life. The Bible tells us that to follow Jesus means that we must make tough choices that fly in the face of our worldly training. 

This probably sounds reasonable to most Christians, that is until we find ourselves experiencing hard or hurtful circumstances that force us to confront our desires and God's desires for us. Take a listen to this:

1 Peter 4:1 AMP

SO, SINCE Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you , arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],

Here we find God saying to us that when we suffer in the flesh and then choose to endure, when we purpose ourselves to follow God in spite of our circumstance, we are moving away from sin and standing in the grace of God!

The world tells me to do everything I can to please myself,  God tells me to live with the intent to please Him. 

Does it seem to you that we need an attitude adjustment?

The payoff is that when we make the tough choice to follow Jesus in hard circumstance we will be blessed. We will experience the love of God. It is something real and tangible. Our hearts will sing and our souls will find peace. There is strength in this that we can't find anywhere else. And it's beautiful. 

I fail in this all the time. But thankfully the Holy Spirit empowers us to actually succeed- we are not alone!

If you are facing immense hurt, trauma or physical pain today God is inviting you to try something that will bring radical freedom:  make the tough choice to follow Him, leave your circumstance in His hands and you will find blessing. 

Let's leave behind what the companies are trying to feed us and let's see what it's like to live in the company of Jesus. 

BT

Pastor Brian Tysdal

Rock of Ages Church

Saskatoon, Sask.