Choices

On the 11th of July I celebrated my 29th birthday.
Made me think about a few things.

Firstly, I am growing old. Older than some not as old as others. I am no longer a teenager so I can't afford to live like one. I have to begin looking at my choices I make in life and how I respond to things. A mature outlook on life and a need to live life extravagantly. I can still be young at heart though. The moment I start considering myself too old for things is the day I become redundant to the world. The fact that I am alive means I have a purpose. I have a destiny and a future.

This is time for me to make the choices that matter. Choices form a part of every life. Even as a Christian, life is a constant series of choices. Some people think that once you make a decision at church and say a little prayer, that all of a sudden everything changes. All of a sudden all your problems are gone or all your worries have been lifted. Oh, how many hours we have spent in my extended family among cousins and uncles discussing this theological dilemma.

That fact of the matter is, life is filled with choices and we need to make a choice everyday. Even a drug addict had made a choice NOT to choose to get clean and allow his addictions to make a choice for him. A large person (such as myself :D ) makes the choice everyday, either to go for a walk or run, or to sit in the house imagining himself a better looking person. Everyone makes a choice everyday to either hit the snooze button and grab a little bit of sleep and potentially end up missing a day of work or to wake up as soon as the alarm goes off to take advantage of all life has to offer (I am still in the process of making this decision easier in the morning). To go on that hike or to go to the movies. To go to the city or to go to the country. To resign from a job or to stay in the job hoping for a promotion. All decisions that we have to deal with day by day by day. It never ends, never subsides. Even when you don't make a choice you still are making a choice.

Why is it that we accept that the world is filled with choices and take them for granted but when it comes to our beliefs and faith we feel that somehow someone else will make the decisions for us?

I have met people who ask God to take their addictions away, choose their life partners, help with their financial situation, etc, but they forget there are choices to be made.

When I made a decision to follow God a long time ago, I was just like that. I felt that someone else will do the choosing for me now. As a result I ended up allowing things to happen that I felt were out of my control but was actually always within my control. Recently I came to realise that my faith depended on my decisions, as much as my financial situation and my life depended on my decisions.
When  made a decision again to follow God, I also made the decision to make that decision everyday. This time, things have changed. Yes I have still faltered in some instances, but I have also found greater success. I made a decision everyday to look at sexuality as something that is sacred rather than a trivial matter. Something that was made for marriage to solidify two souls into one.
I made a decision to look at my finances as an opportunity to be responsible with my money. Putting God first (10%) I found that all else I needed was provided for.
I made a decision that I would live life postiively. To live in such a way that I don't regret past decisions but make decisions to make my future brighter.

I'm still learning and loving and hoping but one thing I have found is when a CHOICE is made to follow God's way rather than our own way, God takes our small efforts and makes them great. God takes my sacrifice of giving him the part of my life that deals with intimacy and God honours me by giving me a bliss that doesn't require me to go down that road till I am married. He brings friends and confidants that encourage me and build me up to look towards the future with hope knowing that even if I never get married, I will be more than satisfied with the God I serve and the love I feel when I am praying or meditating or worshiping or serving in the community or just spending time with friends who trust in this same God.

It's a journey to learn and adapt. To make a choice is difficult but when you do, it makes life more enjoyable.
Spiritually speaking, God, like any father that creates a child, knew that we'd stuff up before we even started. Why? Because he didn't want blind obedience and he didn't want control. He wanted us to make a CHOICE to be with him. So he gave us free will. He already knew that with this free will, we WILL make mistakes, we WILL do selfish things, we WILL accept destructive patterns of life. He knew that because of free will, because of CHOICE, we would never come close to being accepted into his presence, so he provided a way in Jesus so we can go to God through Jesus Christ. God basically made a way. So now the laws in the Bible don't apply to us as a means of getting into heaven. It was never about that. Now it is about how we live life. Just like the sacrificed animals were a reflection of Jesus as the one and only sacrifice for the whole world past, present and future. The laws and punishments in the old testament were also symbolic. Doesn't mean we live under the old testament laws and we stone people if they don't obey. It means we make a choice. We live according to the guidelines of the bible and life feels better. If we fail once or twice, it no longer means we are condemned to hell. Jesus makes sure we don't need to go there. But when we make a lifestyle of negative choices then we end up with Spiritual death. Not just in the hell in the afterlife, but the hell in this world. How many people have lived a life of wrong choices and speak of lives completely destroyed, families broken apart, finances wasted on things that don't matter. This is just the effect of spiritual death. Now this doesn't mean that if you have a broken family or financial strife or have trials and turmoil in your life that you're spiritually dying, Not always the case. But the result of choices made that don't bring honour to God results in a deadening of the soul. But with God and the life he brings there is not only the eternal life after this one but a liveliness of your spirit while you are alive in this world. A joy that even when you make a decision to follow God and CHOOSE to live for him at the age of 30,  the rest of your life can be many times better than the first 30 years of your existence.

Take care
V-man

PS. By Wednesday I hope to have my second short story written, called "Whispers in a Cafe".