The material below was taken from a book I wrote titled, "Why Am I On This Planet?" Since I currently own the copyrights and this chapter directly applies to my article on Financial Armageddon I have decided to post this chapter to my site.
CHAPTER ONE
LIFE IS A CHOICE
Life is nothing but a continuous decision making process from start to finish. Through the decisions we make in life, we hold the power to make our dreams come true, or to cause the world around us to topple over and crush ourselves. Many of the choices we make in life usually affect more of our life than we realize. By tapping into God when we face a decision, we have the power to see what can transpire as a result of our decisions. God will reveal to us the consequences that can take place from any decision we are about to make. This can ultimately lead us to the correct decision to make regarding any circumstance. Through God's help, we have the power to make all the choices that are right for our lives, but the first choice we must make is to include God in our decision making process.
Many people don't realize just how much the choices they make affect their life and the lives of those around them. We can choose to be responsible in our decision making, or we can take the lazy way out. It is all too easy to disregard many of the consequences of the choices we make, or to even acknowledge that any consequences exist. We go on as if we are just going through another daily routine. As the day passes, we can easily accept the views of negativity that this world throws at us. We could choose to believe that our life is just a bunch of years that are strung together, with each year having three hundred sixty five days of those average daily routines. We could choose to believe that each day of our life is just another ship sailing by. We could choose to believe that there is no meaning to life other than our own immediate concerns. We could choose to believe that there is no way we could make a difference in the lives of the people around us. We could choose to believe that the things spoken of in the Bible are not true, or maybe they are true and they are just not attainable. We could choose to believe that the Bible only applies to people who lived thousands of years ago, and that it doesn't apply to life in today's world. We could choose to believe that the Bible was written by a drunken bunch of bums, whose sole purpose was to confuse the rest of the world for eternity (alright, maybe that one is stretching it a bit). On the other hand, we could choose to have faith and believe that everything that the Bible speaks of is attainable because, after all, the Bible is God's word to man. When an honorable person gives you their word you know that they aren't lying. How much more honorable can you get than God himself? Everything that God's word says is the truth, and the keys to life are all inside just waiting for us to discover them. All it takes is a little bit of positive attitude instead of negative. All it takes is faith, and faith is a choice that we make to believe in the Bible or the fact that God even exists. The choice to believe in God and the Bible is a choice that holds the largest determining factor of how our life will play out. If we choose to believe in God, and include him in our daily decision process, we hold the answer to life in the palm of our hand. But first, we must choose to apply God and the Bible to our life. We must choose to believe and act upon what we believe.
One example of how our choices can affect the world around us is the approach that my wife and I take to our marriage. After we were married, many people said to us, "Just wait, in a few years your marriage flame will burn out and everything will get old real fast." I can't recall how many people said that to us before we got married. It seemed like everyone was being negative about marriage. They told us that after our first six months together we would start getting tired of being around each other. Six months passed and they all said to give it another six months. Then two years passed and they were all saying it would happen any day now. Three years, and four years pass and they are all saying the same doom and gloom story. We were in Williamsburg, Virginia one year and a lady asked my wife if we were on our honeymoon. You should have seen how surprised she was when she found out we were celebrating our fifth anniversary. Six years pass, seven years, and eight years, and now we are approaching our ninth year of marriage and we still act like a couple of love birds. I wonder if all those people that sung the old doom and gloom story are wondering what is wrong with us or why we aren't changing? It's really very simple. When my wife and I married we made an agreement to never treat each other like an old worn out pair of gym shoes. We both agreed to do whatever it takes to keep the flame burning inside our marriage. So far we have accomplished our goal and it gets easier as each day passes. It wasn't always easy. Many times the old selfish human nature kicked in and we weren't considering each other's thoughts or feelings. But when reality hit us, we remembered that we made a commitment to each other. We talked out our problems, forgave each other, called it a learning experience, and moved on.
One of the things we still do is go out for an evening and paint the town red just like when we were dating. So if you get out of bed one day and look out your window and see red cars, red houses, red trees, and red bushes you will know that my wife and I were passing through your neighborhood the night before. As we focus on what God wants out of us it helps us to keep our marriage in the right perspective. It isn't what you get out of marriage that makes it work, it's what you put into your marriage. I am extremely thankful for the love that makes our marriage tick. That love that is beyond all measure. The love that God puts inside of us for each other. As long as God is the center of our marriage we will always have that special something that makes our marriage wonderful. We would never have had as great a marriage as we do now if we had not made the choice to keep God the center of our marriage, or the choice to be committed to keeping the spice in our marriage.
I happened across another example of choices we make in life that affect the world around us one day as I was watching television. A popular news and information program was doing a story on a lady who had been on a recent talk show. This talk show was definitely your typical talk show format. They had this lady set up real good. They had the lady express her personal beliefs against placing children in a day care center. The people who ran the talk show purposely invited a bunch of people who were strongly in favor of day care centers. They love to try and make people squirm. This is their distorted view of entertainment. The lady stated many very good reasons she was against day care, and how the choice to put children in most day care centers can have a negative impact on a child and can drastically change the way a child learns and grows. Of course, all the women in the audience who were in favor of day care centers took this lady too personally, as if she was saying their children were terrible kids. They began lashing out at her saying things such as, "How dare you judge the decisions we make!" The lady was trying to show them how the decisions they make can affect their children's lives. The audience continued to tear into her until she finally drove home her point. She asked the audience this question. "Suppose you had the opportunity to choose. Disregard your personal beliefs of your present situation, and the financial aspect of feeling that your extra income is necessary. If the power were totally yours to choose during your own childhood, how many of you in the audience would choose to have been raised in a day care center rather than in your own home?" Not one person in the audience raised their hands or had a reply. The point she went on to make is that as we look at things through a different perspective, starting at the results and working back to the point where the decision is made, it makes it easier for us to make better decisions for ourselves and our children.
That is precisely what God does when we include him in our decision making process. As we take our situation to Him, He shows us a bigger picture. We now can see the whole forest instead of just the trees around us. When we see the big picture, we see the direction we should be heading, This is what helps us make the correct decision for where we are currently at. If we become consciously aware of the fact that every day we can make a choice about something in our lives, whether it is how we choose to react to other people around us or whatever the case, we can realize that we have more control over our outlook on life and the direction our life is headed than we may think we have.
We can choose to attempt this life on our own, or we can choose to walk through this life with the help of our Heavenly Father. If we can establish a true relationship with God, built on love and trust in God, we can talk with God and share our concerns and struggles in life. We then can receive from God the support and encouragement that each one of us need as individuals. Once we come to know God as He truly is, the bond that occurs between us and God is a bond so strong that virtually nothing can brake it. By developing such a relationship as this with our Heavenly Father, we are in effect taking control of our life and locking in our eternal destiny to be directed towards God.
God has a specific purpose for each of our lives. But, God is also a gentleman. He allows us to choose whether we will or will not follow after His will for our life. God wants to know if we are willing to seek his plan for our life, even if it involves some sacrifice. Are we willing enough to make the decision to seek after God's will for our life? Are we willing enough to allow God to work in our lives and transform us into who He wants us to be? Situations can change, people can change, forgiveness can take place, but in order for any changes to take place it must first start inside each of us individually. The situation will not change itself. Nobody else is going to change the situation for us. God wants us to take our situation to Him so that He can work with us to change our attitude toward our situation. That is where change begins to take place. That is where forgiveness begins to take place. That is where growth as an individual occurs. Life is a choice, and the choice is ours to make. The more we cast our cares upon God, the more we are able to operate in love and forgiveness, that's all the more we will grow in our knowledge of what life is really about. That is just that much closer we are to discovering why we are on this planet and what our purpose is in life.
So many times in life we look for someone to blame for why our life has turned out the way it has. Many people wonder if there really is a God or how God could allow certain things to happen to them. Other people choose to cast the blame for everything upon God thinking that if there truly was a God, He never would have allowed many of those things to happen. That is one of the biggest mistakes people make. It's not God's fault why our life has taken the course that it has. We bring many things upon ourselves just by the choices we make every day in life. Our life is also affected by choices that other people have made for us. For example, parents make many choices when their children are young which have a direct impact upon how the child's life turns out. God gave us a way of salvation through Jesus Christ, but He left the choice up to us whether or not we will serve him. If God wanted to save us all from a destiny of eternal damnation he could do it in a heartbeat. But God, being the loving father that He is, allowed us to choose whether or not we want to serve Him. God gave us the choice to serve Him or to serve the devil. We are all serving one or the other whether we want to or not. God also gave us the key to salvation through Jesus Christ His son. He sent Jesus into this world to live a life of perfection and to sacrifice his life for all of the sins of man by dying on the cross. When Jesus did this He became the perfect sacrifice for our sins so that we might obtain our salvation through accepting Jesus Christ as our savior from sin. Then God gave us an instruction manual to help us through life and to answer all of our questions about life. God gave us the keys to the car and the instruction manual on how to drive. Then he gave us the choice of two separate roads to drive on. One road leads to Heaven and the other road leads to Hell. He lets us choose which road we want to take, and each road ends at the stopping point of our souls eternal destination. We are all driving somewhere in life. The question is, where do you want to be when the road in your life ends? If you are driving down the wrong road in life, just turn around and start driving down the right road which is the road to salvation. You will never regret the choice you made, especially when this life is over and your reward is Heaven.
God has a will or a purpose for every person in this world. It is up to us to find out what God's will is and make the choice to pursue God's will for our life. How do we know what God's will is for our life? How do we know we are not following our own selfish desires? We may not know what God's will is for us, but if we search our own hearts we will know whether the decision we are making is correct or not based on the feelings we display in our heart. If our decision is motivated by bad feelings then it is the wrong decision to make. Even though we may not know what God's will is, we can make our decisions by searching our hearts and eliminating the decisions motivated by bad feelings. Then, all we have left are the right decisions to make. You will know in your heart when you have made the right decision because you will have a good feeling in your heart about that decision. You will be doing the right thing for the right reason. The main thing to keep in mind is that we must make our decisions based on what God wants us to do. That may not always be something that we desire. Don't get me wrong. Everyone deserves to obtain the finer things in life and it is good to reward ourselves. We just need to be careful not to get caught up in our own greed or we will be heading down the wrong road.
ROMANS 4:23-25, 5:1,2
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
II CORINTHIANS 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight:
GALATIANS 2:16-20
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
GALATIANS 3:11
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
EPHESIANS 2:8,9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
HEBREWS 11:1-6
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
PSALMS 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
MATTHEW 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
1 JOHN 5:11-15
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
