Posted on 06/16/2004 11:30:17 AM PDT by Frapster
The Incredible Power of Choice
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NAS).
After spending the greater part of my life trying to help people rise up out of their private miseries, I have come to the conclusion that, while there may be countless contributing factors to human misery, most people are the product of their own choices. Enumerable hours of a counselor’s precious time can be wasted trying to help a person resolve hurtful conditions of life when that person, in spite of his protestations, doesn’t want to be free. An old adage says it well: “A person convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.”
Moses addressed the power of choice by admonishing Israel: “So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” In his statement he noted:
Freedom in one’s life begins and ends with the ultimate values and ideals of his core belief system. He will not long go beyond his beliefs nor rise above them. The writer of Proverbs correctly assessed their importance: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23 NKJ). So, then, one’s belief system is the constant monitor of, and the primary contributing factor to, every act of choosing in his life. It determines in every life situation (where a choice is required):
Every choice is a commitment to some kind of action whether it is:
While one might not always determine the circumstances of life that comes upon him, he does have the ability to choose how he will react to or respond in those circumstances, i.e., his attitude. The attitudes he chooses determine his quality of life he experiences while in the grasp of a certain circumstance regardless of whether that circumstance might be considered bad or good at the time. The following is the spiritual formula that Paul gave determining the predisposition of his attitudes by which he viewed his personal circumstances: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:11-12).
Moses spoke of the ultimate effect of one’s attitude: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.” Whether one is blessed or cursed is not determined by the circumstance he is in but by the choices he makes while in those circumstances. A person can rise to his highest hours in the worst of circumstances. Any long-term dysfunction that is the aftermath of hurtful circumstance is inevitably determined by how one perceived them rather than the immediate hurtful or debilitating effect of them on his person. Blessing is always the product of proper attitude rather than circumstantial conditions.
One cannot cling to rights and justifications in the healing process. He must be willing to admit responsibility and personal choice in his failures. Following are some of the typical protestations people make trying to justify their failures:
Effective healing and freedom from bondage can only be effectively achieved when one makes proper choices. The following observations speak of the role of choosing when facing some of the primary issues of life in the healing process:
The healing process takes us back to the appropriateness of the following confession of the Psalmist in a time of personal cleansing and healing: “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge” (Psalms 51:3-4). The essential nature of the Psalmist’s confession had to do with the choices he made that brought about his predicament. He typifies the role of choice in confessing them that he might be cleansed and freed. Freedom, then, depends on choosing—right choosing when we come face to face with God in times of healing.
My apologies for the bad code.
9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[2] 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13children born not of natural descent,[3] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
"I chose you, you didn't choose Me."---Jesus Christ
Thanks be to God for His Merciful choosing of His Own Will, Purpose and Pleasure.
did you even read the article?
John 1:12-13: God gives power to become the sons of God to those who choose to receive the Son of God.
John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you..." The context of this verse must be understood. Jesus was only speaking to the eleven remaining apostles. (Luke 22:14) He was not speaking to the world or even disciples in general-only to the eleven. Jesus was saying that He had chosen and ordained these men for their apostolic office and they had no part in elevating Him. This passage has nothing to do with a selection to salvation.
Revelation 22:17 "...WHOSOEVER WILL let him take the water of life freely"
The message throughout the Bible is that God chooses those who chooses to obey Him.
Bad choices: we are responsible. Good choices: Enabling grace. To our God Alone be the glory!
The children of God are born of God(regenerated from the spiritual death that resulted from Adam's sin.), not of human decision but by God's decision.
Romans 9
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."[1] 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
It's not of human will or decision, but God's Mercy and God's Will to have mercy on whomever He chooses to have mercy.
Wrong, the message throughout the Bible is that man is fallen and estranged from God, in bondage to his sin nature, hopelessly lost and without the ability to make himself right with God, but that God has chosen, set apart a people to Himself, who are Redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ.
You can't choose to obey God until God gives you a new heart.
Pelagius would have loved you.
Romans 3
For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10As it is written:
"There is none righteous, no, not one;
11There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one."[2]
13"Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit";
[3] "The poison of asps is under their lips";
[4] 14"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."[5]
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17And the way of peace they have not known."[6]
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."[7]
That is what God thinks of your false notion that you choose to obey Him, and thus save yourself.
Being all-knowing of the past, present and future...doesn't God already know what our choices are going to be, even before we are born?
Yes.
Nice thread hijack.
How can it be a choice, if it is known beforehand?
Tell you what - when you and I can exist outside of a time-space continuum then maybe we can have this dicussion. In the mean time you choose whether or not you want to respond to this post and I'll just rest in comfort knowing that God will be there regardless.
I realise it's a pretty tough question, thanks anyway.
I see you made a choice. :-)
As God directed.
And desired and ordained.
Hey stu good to see you
If I stand at the finish-line of a 40 yard dash and am able then to relate to each participant what went on through the course of the race does that imply in any fashion that I have determined the outcome of the race once the race is over?
Let me ask you a question and I would like you to answer it hypothetically. Will you do that for me? I'll ask the question once you choose. ;-)
Men can and do make choices, such as choosing what clothes to wear, what to have for dinner, what stocks to invest in, etc.
However, due to Adam's fall whereby sin entered the world and so twisted the will of man towards slavery to sin, succumbing man to total depravity, man, of his own will, of his own nature being a sinful nature, has not the ability within himself to consistently choose good, nor has the ability to choose God, who is Good.
Jeremiah 17:9; "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
It takes God regenerating the will of man with a bent towards God, through the gift of a new heart by God before man can freely choose God.
Jeremiah 32:
38They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.
Men can and do make choices, such as choosing what clothes to wear, what to have for dinner, what stocks to invest in, etc.
However, due to Adam's fall whereby sin entered the world and so twisted the will of man towards slavery to sin, succumbing man to total depravity, man, of his own will, of his own nature being a sinful nature, has not the ability within himself to consistently choose good, nor has the ability to choose God, who is Good.
Jeremiah 17:9; "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
It takes God regenerating the will of man with a bent towards God, through the gift of a new heart by God before man can freely choose God.
Jeremiah 32:
38They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.
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