Choose Whom You Will Serve

Choose this day whom you will serve . . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Life is filled with choices. We make hundreds and thousands of choices each and every day. Choices about what we will wear, choices about what we will eat, choices about what we will say or not say, choices about how we will spend our time. In every moment we are making choices. You are making a choice right now to either read this email or not.

The challenge for us is to be intentional with our choices. We must choose up front our values and priorities. If we don’t choose these upfront for ourselves, others will choose them for us. Think about going to the grocery store. Imagine going on an empty stomach without a shopping list. You will find that everything in the store is calling out your name. It becomes so very hard to resist the aromas that overload your senses. You walk out with a receipt with a price tag much larger than you ever envisioned.

Shopping at the grocery store is a very different experience when you bring in the shopping list. You choose your priorities upfront. You’ve got a plan. You’ve got a budget. You’ve got coupons. You go in with the list, and you come out with what was on that list. You cut the cost of the shopping trip by simply being prepared. The decisions were made upfront based upon your priorities. It is a much more pleasant experience.

I am not retired by any stretch of the imagination, but I will often talk with people who are. They tell me they find themselves busier in retirement than ever before. I have a theory about that. It is because when they were working, their priority was very clear. It was their occupation. A good portion of their week was taken up by their job. It was a priority that put other priorities in the background. When that one big priority is taken out of a person’s life, there are all kinds of other priorities that vie for that space that the person’s occupation once occupied. The challenge is being intentional with those priorities. If we are not intentional with our priorities, all kinds of other priorities will begin to surface and to fill our calendar.

As much as we have a to-do list, it is good to have a “not-to-do” list as well. Are we willing to put aside other priorities and activities to accomplish what God has established as a priority in our lives? Do we choose to limit our time from doing those things that are not all that important like watching TV? You likely have your own unique “not-to-do” list. Do you know what is on that list? It might be spending less time reading the latest John Grisham novel, so that you can spend more time in the Word of God. It might be less time worrying, so that you can spend more time praying. It might revolve around your finances. That you might spend less money on eating out so you can save for a family vacation or mission trip. It might be choosing to buy the used car instead of the new car so that you can stay out of debt to honor the Lord with your finances.

Be a believer that knows what you want because you know what God wants. The best choices we make are the choices we use the wisdom of God. The best choices we make are the choices we make based on the priorities we establish with God’s help through his Word and prayer. This means I know what is important before I need to choose what’s important. It doesn’t mean I will not be tempted to occupy my time with more trivial matters. The temptation is always there. But simply being aware of the competing priorities is half the battle.