Thursday, March 18, 2010

Reality Check

"Choose this day whom you will serve....as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

I was shocked!  I simply could not believe it! Lacey got voted off American Idol last night!  She was my favorite...especially once I found out she was a preacher's kid (I am and my children are.)  She was beautiful...in a really bold way...red (the color of a crayon) hair, heavy makeup, and a unique style of dress. (Now, I'm not saying that's how I dress...or want my children to dress...or color their hair.)  But her smile was so sweet, her eyes so sparkly, and her voice was very appealing.  Yes, shocked...and sad.  Well, as much as you can be over a TV show.  The thing was, as much as I hated it, I was a part of the cause.  I didn't do my part.  I didn't vote.  I made a choice to sit on the sidelines, enjoy the show, and not take a stand for my choice.

Yes, at my house, we enjoy reality TV...American Idol...Survivor...Amazing Race.  Now we don't approve of all of the music...or language...or social statements, but there's excitement in seeing people reach for their dream...take on great challenges...battle the odds...see the world.  I guess for us, it's some encouragement for us to consider our dreams...an escape from the odds we battle in our daily lives...a chance to experience risk taking from the safety of our recliners...and to travel vicariously through those strangers.

You know, I will choose to root for some other contestant on American Idol.  I probably still won't vote.  I head straight to bed when the show is over.  But this has surely caused me to think about choices...and acting upon them.

God's Word makes it very clear that there are some critical choices we must make and actions that we must take...choices and actions that will impact our lives...and God's blessing on our lives.  Yesterday, He brought to my mind the verse in Joshua 24:15, "Choose this day whom you will serve...."  Everyday I have to make a choice.  Not for salvation...that was settled long ago, when I was seven.  But I must choose daily whom I will serve...who I will live for...who I will revere...who I will reflect.

Lately I have been reading from Deuteronomy.  Repeatedly we, as God's chosen, are commanded to choose...obedience that brings blessing...or disobedience that brings cursing.    (By the way, speaking of choices...He chose us!!!  He made a choice for us to become His very own treasured possession!  And His choice was one that came at great cost...to Him, not to us.  He showed grace.  No matter what we've done, no matter where we've been, no matter how much we've hurt Him, He died in our place.  He gave it all.  It was a sacrifice.  It hurt.  Yet, His love was that great!  1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.)  And He gives us a choice...black and white...choose Him...or not.

Back to Deuteronomy, hear it straight from His Word.  "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"  Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.  See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.  But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,  I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that 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. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."  Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NIV)

That's reality.  Reality that matters.  What's your choice?

Lord, I'm casting my vote!  I choose You!  I want my life to be about You.  I want Your blessing...for me and my household.  Help me daily to walk in obedience to Your commands.  I am in awe that You would choose me.  My heart overflows with gratitude for Your love...unfailing love...for Your sacrifice...for me.  I love you.


    

3 comments:

Clementine said...

What a beautiful and powerful post, Miss Kristi! So true.

Write2ignite said...

obedience - mmmmm. Hard pill to swallow - but powerful medicine!

GRACE - I think grace is unexplainable. I mean why would the Creator of the universe do all He did for a people who He knew would still reject Him?

Love. Wow. What a wonderful God we serve!

Jean said...

He chose me. What an amazing thought. I am God's girl because He chose me.

That thought makes me humbled and exilerated at the same time.

Happy Resurreciton Day, Kristi.

Jean