Two Choices, Which Will you Choose

“Are you choosing God’s way or your way?”  by Lindsay Oldright

This is a frequent question in our family when we can feel disobedience on the horizon with our kids. But let’s be honest, it isn’t just a question for my kids, it‘s a question for my own heart. Often as I ask that question, I’m convicted about my own choices over the last few days. I often choose the easy path, the comfortable path, the path that sees my opinion as more righteous than others and proceeds to judge others as unrighteous.  

We have only 2 choices: we can either choose to please ourselves or to please God. We can choose to glorify the Lord, or we can choose to seek glory for ourselves. You cannot serve two masters—you can either serve money, comfort, and ease, or you can give your all to Jesus (Matthew 6:24). 

The question is:

Which way IS God’s way, or how do I glorify God in this situation right here, right now? 

Seek after the Things of Heaven

If you glance through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 and Luke 6, you will see that Jesus isn’t just calling for outward obedience with a hidden evil heart. He calls out the hypocrisy of the religious elite who knew all that the Law said, prayed loudly, gave publicly, and fasted to be noticed. Jesus says if you do these things to be noticed by man then that is all the reward you’ll get. It is like eating the prepackaged cake pop at the airport now, instead of patiently being rewarded with the famously decadent German torte after your long flight to Germany. But if you give to the needy, pray and fast in secret, your Heavenly Father will reward you (Matthew 6:1–18). Jesus is calling those who choose to follow after Him to look for that secret reward; to be so fixated on the things of the Lord that they do not try to take control and manage appearances as the religious elite or the powerful in society did back in His day. Instead He calls them to seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness (Matthew 6:33).  

Paul puts it this way, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:1-4‬ ‭ESV‬‬; ). Our changed status and identity because of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the reason we focus on heavenly things and not the earthly, temporary things.

Check your Actions & Your Heart

In the book of James, you can almost hear echoes of the gospels. The author points out in 1:22-25 that Christ followers are called to be not just hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. Jesus in Matthew 7:21 says that many will call Him their Master and proclaim all that they had done in His name, but only those who do the will of the Father would enter heaven. And in verses 24-27, Jesus lays out the analogy that may seem familiar of a wise man building his house on the rock while the foolish one built his on the sand. If you look more closely, you’ll see that what differentiates the foolish man from the wise man is not based on a level of intelligence or grasp of culture or whether he aced Torah school. NO—the wise person is the one who doesn’t just hear Jesus’ words, but the one who DOES them! A fool hears Jesus’ words, walks away, and does NOT practice them. All that he has built is completely destroyed by this great deluge of water!

Obedience begins long before a harsh word is spoken or anxieties grow. The heart chart points out that your decision whether to be a doer of God’s Word or a doer of your own way begins in the heart. All who are Christ followers have been justified and given Christ’s righteousness to wear as our own, but we are also being worked on by the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Christ.

Two Choices Chart - The Heart Chart

Ask for God’s Wisdom to Replace Your Own Understanding 

Proverbs 3:5-6 is often a verse we hear in Sunday school, but it is very applicable to us in our adulthood. Look at the following verses as well, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬; ) Our tendency is to lean on our own understanding when things are going as planned and we feel in control, but what about when times get hard? We need to be willing to ask for wisdom from the Source of all wisdom (James 1:5-6). If we aren’t leaning on the Lord and choosing His way every hour of every day, we likely will struggle to find our way back to the path of trust. It is not a bad thing to be proactively putting all our trust in the Lord and feasting on His Word on the good days. This is how we find refreshment, which is the Hebrew word for “drink,” and healing. This is how we thrive when the heat comes. 

Then we can say with Habakkuk in chapter 3, even if everything goes wrong, I lose my job, face an unexpected death in the family, I lose everything I own, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD; I WILL TAKE JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION. God alone is my strength! 

So ask yourself, “Am I choosing God’s way or my way?” What does the fruit of your life say about you? Are you allowing the Lord to shape you into His likeness? Are you trusting the Lord and rejoicing in Him even when intense pain and trials come?