The Power of Choice

We all have choice. This awesome gift from God we call freewill is a mind boggling conundrum form many Theologists. The question many of them ask is this, "Since God choose to give us choice, then aren't all of our decisions really just the ones He allows us to make?" While at first this may make some sense, it is like saying if your parents hadn't chosen to have you, you would not have the choice to disobey them, therefore you aren't to blame, your parents are. This is complete hokum. We all know that a child can choose to obey or disobey a parent of their own freewill. Similarly, we try to blame God at times as well. We want Him to take the blame for our shortfalls and our laziness when really we are just trying to find an excuse to do what we desire.

So is God at fault for giving us freewill? Not at all. The fact that God is truly omnipotent means that He can indeed create beings with the power to reason and choose for themselves. This is what he elected to do with us. He choose to allow us to choose. Without His choice we couldn't make ours, but that does not mean He takes away our choice. It really is quite the opposite. With that choice that some see as limiting we have the power to make true choices. God makes specific references to these choices in the Bible and even mourns for the poor choices of His people.

In closing, these are the words spoken to God's people. Joshua24:14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Clean Slate

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.” -Ecclesiastes 12:1a

Clean Slate?

 We often hear the new year referred to as a clean slate. Nothing has happened yet and we could, apparently, do or become anything we want if we just work hard enough. People make New Years’ Resolutions and talk about all the changes they are going to make. As pretty and nice as this sounds, is it really true? Is the New Year a clean slate? I don’t know about you, but even after New Years’ Day my life was pretty much the same. I had the same family, same job, same friends, and even the same name. So it seems like things don’t really all reset on January 1st every year, but it is a good time to look at the choices we made last year and see where they will lead us in the upcoming year.

Choices and Consequences 

When I was a kid, I remember the year that we switched from 1999 to 2000. Everyone was sure are the computers would shut down since they kept dates in a MM/DD/YY setup and some computers would erase their data or it would be rendered unreadable because the computers didn’t register 99 as after 00. They we sure the world would end and we would be thrown into apocalypse. Some people made some very foolish decisions in December of 1999 because they thought that the end was near. As it turned out, a couple of computers did have some glitches, but with programmers working around the clock, all in all things worked out fine. 

The choices we make, both those that we made last year and those that we will make this year, have permanent consequences. The choices we don’t make have consequences as well. Every year, every day, has choices that cannot be undone, and we need to realize that we don’t have a ‘clean slate’ to reset things when we mess up. There is forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t deal with consequences. Samson repented of his drinking and womanizing, and God did forgive him, but Samson remained blind. David was forgiven for his sin with Bathsheba, but their first son still died. 

The teen years are very important times for making choices. The habits that you pick up now will be carried throughout your entire life. The years from 13-20 are some of the most habit forming years of your entire life. 45% of teenagers who start drinking alcohol at 13-14 years of age will become alcoholics. FORTY FIVE PERCENT! Think about that. No one looks at an alcoholic and says, “thats who I want to be.” Instead, the choices people make at your age lead them there. 

This doesn’t just apply to alcoholism, it is just one of the easy things to measure. This applies to all sin in our lives. If you choose to do it today, it will be harder to choose differently tomorrow. Thankfully though, this doesn’t just apply to sin, but also to the good habits you form now as well. Do you memorize Scripture? Good, that will stay with you a long time. Do you read and meditate on God’s Word? That habit is one that will stay with you. Do you spend time alone with God in prayer? If you make it a priority now, it will stay with you. The choices you make this week, today, and even tonight can stay with you for a lifetime.

Make Decisions Ahead of Time 

The Supreme Court's leading case on the use of deadly force is Tennessee v. Garner. In that 1985 opinion, the court invalidated a state force statute in a civil suit where a burglar was fatally shot in the head while trying to escape over a backyard fence. The Supreme Court said the use of deadly force in these circumstances constituted an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The court gave guidelines for evaluating the constitutionality of the use of deadly force in any given case, which would include situations in which "reflex fire" is directed at the suspect.*

The court first defined the circumstances under which the use of deadly force would be considered unconstitutional:

"Not withstanding probable cause to seize a suspect, an officer may not always do so by killing him. Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so. A police officer may not seize an unarmed, non-dangerous suspect by shooting him dead."

Then, Garner set forth examples of circumstances in which deadly force could constitutionally be used: "Where the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force. Thus, if the suspect threatens the officer with a weapon or there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm, deadly force may be used if necessary to prevent escape, and if, where feasible, some warning has been given."*

People do terribly under pressure. In that case in 1985 the police officers had only a split second to decide what to do with the escaping criminal. In that short timeframe, they shot and killed him. Pulling a trigger is easy, knowing when is not. This is why we train police officers and military. DRILL, DRILL, DRILL. Under pressure people may freeze, panic, or attack. Practice and study help soldiers and officers to handle the unexpected. As Christians, we need to drill as well. Temptation rarely comes when we want it to or when we have time for it. Instead, it comes when we aren’t ready, when we don’t have a plan. We need to prepare for these situations.

It's not uncommon to hear or read about officer-involved shootings where multiple officers emptied their loads into the suspect and anything within 10 feet of him. Asked about why they opened fire, bystander officers may reply, "When another officer started shooting, I just reflexively started shooting, too."

Sometimes referred to as "sympathetic fire" or "contagious shooting," this phenomenon can have implications not only for officer and public safety, but also for public relations, internal discipline, civil liability, and even potential criminal prosecution.*

Sometimes we do this with sin as well. We see someone else is sinning and we don’t know what to do. Instead of stopping and thinking, we join in. The choices we make in moments like that can be just as permanent and just as deadly to our souls and policemen all opening fire on an unarmed suspect. If the policemen were ready to make a choice, if they had made a choice before they were in the situation, then maybe they would not have all opened fire. 

How to Make Positive Change

King David tells us, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” PSALM 119:11

This is an important key to making right choices. We must prepare ahead of time. David choose to study God’s Word so that he knew what choices he was going to make. 

Another thing we can do, no matter what age you are, is choose a person you respect and copy their behavior and choices. When I was about 16 a preacher came to our hometown in Kansas and gave us that advice. I respected the speaker greatly and choose to try to copy his speech patterns, behavior, his patience, and even the way he walked. The speaker I choose to copy was a really quiet fellow so I guess I failed in that part, but I do firmly believe that choosing someone we respect and trying to be like them in some ways is a good way to form good habits. Paul told the Corinthian church, “Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.” I COR. 11:1

Choosing a Godly role model is an excellent way of forming good habits and making Godly choices. We need to be more like Christ, and sometimes the best way to do that is to follow someone who is doing that already.

Conclussion

A New Year is not a totally clean slate. However, it is a good time to review our choices and change some of them. We will always have places we can improve, the important thing it to remember to do so. In closing, I would like leave you with a few verses out of Galatians chapter 5.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

* from http://www.policemag.com/channel/careers-training/articles/2008/05/reflex-fire.aspx

Loving our Neighbor

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 

This a continuing theme in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. We are to love our neighbor. But what does that mean? How can we love our neighbor? What does this look like?

Sometimes, when we love our neighbor, we think that means we would let them do whatever they want. This almost ties in with nonresistance if you don't look carefully; but it doesn't, not quite. Instead, we need to realize that sometimes when we love, we have to be honest and even confrontational. Both love and nonresistance are not about avoiding confrontation, but instead doing so in a kind and gentle way. It is much like running a business. If we see some random employee at someone else's company not doing their job or behaving in a nonprofessional manner, we tend to shrug it off as not our problem. But if that was our employee we would be concerned about addressing the situation. Avoiding the problem is not helping the person, addressing is. In the same way, in our interactions with people, we need to address situations without being self-serving or 'holier than thou.' This is a challenging situation. It would actually be much easier if loving our neighbor meant ignoring them, but we cannot do so. Nor should we even desire such a thing. We love ourselves, yet we do not tolerate sloth or evil just because of that. No, we tend to be less lenient with ourselves. I do not mean we should be condemning, not at all. Instead, I am merely suggesting that we should confront in order to help.

"How do we confront without condemning?" you may ask. Well, honestly sometimes confronting is condemning. Sin is wrong and we can't wish that away. However, we need to make sure that the person we are helping is actually being helped by our input. Prayer is vital in these situations, as in all of our Christian existence. We also need to be able to admit that we too are flawed humans who have to go to God for help. We cannot act like we can solve or 'fix' other people; we cannot. Instead, we should lead them to the only source of help we really have - God Himself. So in loving we do confront and sometimes even condemn, but it should always be for the benefit of the person we are interacting with, not for our own.

But what about people who don't want our help? What about those who take offense to any correction at all? This is a tricky situation. We are to help, and that can mean to speak up. That being said, sometimes people have wounds in their past, spiritual or emotional, that they have not addressed. These wounds may even be half-forgotten, visages of a dark time in their past. These types of people, Christians and otherwise, can be very hurt when corrected. It often has little to do with the current situation, but they may lash out at the very person trying to help. Wounded people wound others, the saying goes, and it is quite true. The hurt person may not be able to see or admit that they are hurt, but they are. So what do we do?

We pray. This type of situation cannot be solved by our attempts at helping. No, this is a problem that can and should be brought to the very Person who created them. Very little can be done by mere humans to fix such things. God, the great Physician, can and does heal such wounds, but it is not our place to try to speed things up by creating our own 'home remedies'. We can and should keep these precious brothers and sisters in prayer, but we should remember not to become condescending in our relationship with them. We too have had wounds like these, and it is only by God's grace that we can work through them. So remember, love is also patient.

In the end, loving our neighbor isn't really about ourselves, emotion, confrontation, or even our neighbor. It is about God. His will and provision for us all. If we keep our focus on Him and not just our imaginations of Him, we can indeed love our neighbor.