I presented this as a lesson to inmates in the San Angelo County Jail in 2012 to emphasize that they were called upon by man’s law and God’s law to make a choice about their future. Using CHOICE as an acrostic made it clearer for my audience.
We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
We can choose to keep doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results or choose God as our caretaker.
C—Commit to Christ
H—Holy Spirit dwells within you
O—Openness to changes God will make in you
I—Invest your trust in Jesus
C—Confess and repent of your sins
E—Empowerment will come from God
The C is Commit to Christ as your higher power.
Choosing Christ is our most important choice in life. If you trust Christ with the care of your immortal soul, turning your life over to Him should be a “no-brainier.” Why should you have this kind of trust?
God is patient. He will let the weeds of sin grow in our lives until we admit we cannot pull them up by ourselves. What are the choices? You can choose yourself to be in control or choose Jesus Christ.
The H is for the Holy Spirit
Jesus promised in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth….you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” Jesus promised again in John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” You can only receive the Holy Spirit if you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your savior.
If Christ is your savior, the Holy Spirit already lives inside you but you must choose to listen to Him and let His power work to change you. (There’s that word choose again) Just know that you don’t have to do this all alone.
The O is for the Openness to the changes God will make in us
Who wants to be changed by someone they don’t trust? Trust is faith. Mark tells about Jesus in His hometown. Mark 6:5-6 says, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” If we have open faith we can receive a blessing like the promise made to Saul the first King of Israel in 1 Samuel 10:6, “The spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power….and you will be changed into a different person.” I don’t know about you, but I want to be a different person from the person I was before.
The I is for Invest
Invest your trust, your life, and your will into the safe-keeping of Jesus Christ as a permanent trust arrangement. Remember, God has a plan to prosper you, not to harm you. If you have a savings account you don’t withdraw the money and re-invest it over and over again. You lose a lot of interest that way.
The more you invest, the greater the return. God’s economy works like that, but He expects you to invest your entire self, not just part. “’ Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so many blessings that you will not have room enough for if’” (Malachi 3:10).
The C is for Confession
To invest our wills and lives into the care of Jesus we must confess our sins to him. Repenting of our sins makes us one who is choosing God and it requires two steps. The first step is, “Turn from your sins and act on this glorious news! (Mark 1:15)” Confessing and turning from our sins cleanses our conscience of that horrible, shameful guilt. Now you can take step number two, turn to God.
The E is for Empower
If you repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your savior the Holy Spirit will enter you and will Empower you to stand firm against Satan and his schemes. Ephesians 6:10-11 exhorts followers of Christ, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Read Eph. 6:12-18)
I hear stories every day that say I was born that way or I was raised that way so it’s not my fault, I can’t help it. Make no mistake we have free will to choose our actions. We can choose we just don’t have the power to act except through Jesus Christ.
Joshua said to the Hebrew people, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….” (Joshua 24:15). That is our challenge, to choose Jesus or keep trying to be the “master of our own lives.” Joshua made his choice in the same verse, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
So, what will be your choice? What will be my choice? Will you choose along with Joshua or will you be the master of your own life? I believe Joshua had the right idea.