God Speaking

“…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him…” (Deuteronomy 30:19 – 20)

Last year we had a dear little ten year old girl visiting us and as a treat I took her to a speciality ice cream shop that had just opened in our neighbourhood. I had never been inside so it was quite an illuminating experience for me. To begin with just the choices of ice cream flavours was overwhelming. Then I learnt that the sophisticated ice cream consumers did not stop at one choice of flavour but could choose others to be mixed in. I was intrigued to see the ice cream was not scooped out with a recognisable implement, but thrown on to a slab by a wooden spatula and the flavours mixed together. Choice did not stop there. Toppings could be mixed in at this stage or could be sprinkled on top later. Even so we had still not received the finished article because the type of cone now had to be chosen. There was such a range of these I lost count. Fortunately my little friend was familiar with the procedure, as all this choosing had left me exhausted, and she was thrilled with her chosen masterpiece that was finally placed in her hand and I thought back wistfully about the one scoop of vanilla ice cream that was considered such a treat in my childhood.

Choices are part of living and we are confronted with them every day and some of them are certainly not as pleasant as choosing an ice cream flavour. Some are so important they can have an impact on the rest of our lives. Some are foolish. Some are wise. We often seek advice when momentous choices are to be made. Solomon knew that life presented many a situation where choice was going to have a lasting effect and wrote the book of Proverbs as a guide to decision making. When Moses was advising the people before they entered the Promised Land he said, “Choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:15)

Our Heavenly Father has graciously allowed us choice in the way we lead our lives, but how we make these choices is actually the basis for a Spirit filled life.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22 – 23)

This verse reminds me a little of the ice cream shop, as if there is a fully stocked fruit shop filled with good gifts from the Father that we can choose to enrich our lives.

So we can imagine going into that Heavenly fruit shop and choosing;

Love…Today I choose to be loving to all I come across.

Joy…I will choose to banish gloomy thoughts and be joyful today.

Peace…I will choose the peace that passes all understanding to quite my anxiety today.

Patience…Today I will choose to wait upon the Lord, patiently.

Kindness…I will choose to have my words filled with kindness today.

Goodness…Today I choose all my actions to be honest and trustworthy.

Faithfulness…I will choose to keep all my promises I have made today.

Gentleness…I will choose today to be gentle with those less fortunate than myself

Self-Control…Today I choose to remain in charge of my emotions.

The most wonderful choice we can make for our whole lives is to make the choice to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This hymn sums it up.

Today I choose to follow you

Today I choose to give my YES!!! to you

Today I choose to hear your voice and live

Today I choose to follow you.