💡 The Choice Is Yours

Friends,

Here’s a sobering reality— 

✨What you experience during your life is largely up to you.

It’s part of the way God made us all.  He didn’t create robots that can be controlled remotely from Heaven.  He made us with free will, the option to choose if we would do life His way or ours.

Long story shortened, God doesn’t force compliance.  And since He doesn’t force us to do anything, we have a choice to make.  Whether our lives become a constant display of victory and His glory or vices and gloom is up to us.

I can’t write about choices without thinking of these epic words from the Bible:

Then Joshua told the people: Worship the Lord, obey him, and always be faithful. Get rid of the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. But if you don't want to worship the Lord, then choose here and now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you're living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you'll worship their gods. I won't. My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord! (‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬-‭15‬, ‭CEV‬‬)

Talk about options being laid before you.  Joshua made the same point I’m outlining in this post— the choice really is yours.  And if you want to win, here’s what you need to do:

✅ Weigh Your Options

By calling attention to the idols their ancestors worshipped and the gods of the Amorites, Joshua invited his audience to weigh their options.  In other words, look at the paths you can take.  But he wasn’t challenging them to give the options a brief glance.  He wanted them to thoughtfully explore them to determine which path was the best to take.

Friends, weighing your options is one of the best ways to maximize the gift of free will.  Really think through the paths available and determine which will lead to the best results.  Notice what I said there.  Don’t choose the path that will lead to the simplest or easiest results because they’re not always the best.  Determine which path leads to the best outcome.  In my humble opinion, that’s always the option that pushes you closer to being who God created you to be.

Here are some practical questions to explore while weighing your options:

• What will I have to give up if I go this way?
• How has this way worked out for others who have tried it?
• Is this God’s way or mine in disguise?

If you really take time to explore these questions when options are available, the right path will become obvious.  But just because you know which path will lead to the optimal outcome doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily finish the journey to get to it.  That leads me to another recommendation.

✅ Wait with Optimism

Enter patience.  That’s right.  No journey of becoming all you were designed to be is exempt from it.  Invariably, you’ll have to wait, but how you wait is key.

Living in ‘get it right away’ times can make you roll your eyes when you hear about waiting.  Just look around in rush hour traffic and you’ll see what I mean.  Most people view waiting as a horrendous chore they’d rather avoid.  

But when you realize the value added when you wait joyfully, you’ll want to do it over and over again.  Waiting with optimism requires an understanding that what you’re anticipating is already approved, especially when it involves God’s plans.  When you do life His way, you’re only waiting for what He already promised.  

Think of children waiting for presents— excitement is an understatement.  When they see gifts wrapped, they know it’s only a matter of time before those same gifts will be enjoyed.  That’s the same attitude I’m encouraging you to have while waiting for God.  Don’t abort a great outcome with impatience.  Wait on Him like the outcomes He shared below are headed your way:

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.  They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind (Isaiah 40:31, MSG).

As I wrap up this blog post, let me remind you.  The choice is yours.  Winning is one of the outcomes God intends for you to enjoy this year, but realizing it is up to you.  As you consider whether His plan or an alternative is best, weigh the options and wait with optimism.  That’s how you engage free will to arrive at the best possible outcomes.

The finish line is near, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.  

💬 What are your strategies for lining up with God’s plans?  Let me know in the comments.

And if you read this far, you really caught this conversation already in progress.  When you have time, go back and listen to where it started: [🥇No One Wants You to Win Like God.]

When God says so, I’ll post another blog.  Until then, let Him take great care of you by choosing to align with His ways of doing life.

Joyfully,

Reginald Hinton Jr.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

Reginald Hinton Jr., the President of Indurance Movement, has spent more than half his life in a relationship with God, and he uses the deep well of wisdom he's gained to help others find their true selves--the unique story God created before they were born.