Happy Friday, Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! Yes, I realize today is not Friday! However, I have a message in my heart, I want to get it to you all, and I have amazing adventures to pursue!
We started a new series at church last weekend titled O Positive. You can see the full sermon here https://www.igotofaith.com/sermons This is going to be a phenomenal series!
During the message, Pastor Steve commented, “You get to choose your sacrifice; choose wisely.” I want to honor Pastor Steve and the context with which the comment was made. Then I will take it out of context!
What Pastor Steve was specifically talking about was whether or not we choose to accept Jesus as our Savior. It is interesting to me; sometimes people will say something like, “If God was a loving God, why would He send people to hell?” The blunt answer is, “He is a loving God; He is simply honoring our choice.” You see, He created a way for us to get to Heaven. He gave His one and only son, allowed him to be slaughtered (if you watch the sermon, you will understand why I use that word instead of “crucified”) as atonement for our sins. We can choose to accept Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf, or we can choose to make our own sacrifice. We will all spend eternity somewhere. One sacrifice leads to Heaven, and one sacrifice leads to hell…choose wisely. Here are a few things the Bible says:
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Romans 10:9
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Now, I am going to take Pastor Steve out of context, and while far less significant, it is equally true. When he made the statement, “You get to choose your sacrifice,” I couldn’t help but think how true those words are for all aspects of life.
Perhaps you have seen the poem “Choose Your Hard” by Keith Craft:
Being your best is hard
Being your normal is hard
Making wise decisions is hard
Making bad decisions is hard
Being in shape is hard
Being out of shape is hard
Losing weight is hard
Being fat is hard
Working out is hard
Being weak is hard
Being disciplined is hard
Being lazy is hard
Getting out of your comfort zone is hard
Staying in your comfort zone is hard
Starting a business is hard
Working for someone else is hard
Making a lot of money is hard
Making a little bit of money is hard
Being rich is hard
Being poor is hard
Having great relationships is hard
Having bad relationships is hard
Having friends is hard
Having no friends is hard
Fighting for your marriage is hard
Divorce is hard
Having a lot of things is hard
Having nothing is hard
Living on purpose is hard
Living off purpose is hard
Doing life God’s way is hard
Doing life your own way is hard
Everything is hard!
Choose your hard!
Here is where I am going this morning; whichever hard you choose, there will be a sacrifice. Someone or something will be sacrificed to accomplish the hard you choose. And that is the thing, the place we tend to get hung up. We like being able to choose whatever we want; we just don’t always want the consequences that go with those choices. Look at any of the choices you want – or perhaps you have something else in mind; there is a sacrifice and there is an outcome as a result of that choice. At the end of the day, as Pastor Steve said, “You get to choose your sacrifice; choose wisely.”
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there's anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well.
Kev
