Choosyfeatured

Are you choosy?  I am pretty choosy when I select my produce at the grocery store.  I want to be sure that my vegetables and fruit are the best quality available.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines choosy as “fastidiously selective.” Many of us are fastidiously selective in at least some aspects of our life, but are we choosy when it comes to matters of faith? 

Being choosy is an integral part of being a disciple of Christ. Both the Old and New Testaments speak to the importance of our choices.  In Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Moses says, “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…”  Choosing life takes on even more significance in John 14:6 when Jesus states, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Making the choice to follow Christ is the most important choice of our lives, but it doesn’t stop there.

Our “choosiness” shapes our lives and inevitably impacts the lives of others.  Joshua 24:15 tells us “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” We are faced with countless choices to serve the Lord every day of our lives.  We have the opportunity to choose his way, truth and life or to follow our own path. We choose how to spend our time, energy, money and talents.  We choose who we spend time with and choose the words that come out of our mouths or onto our keyboards. And every choice matters!

In the interest of time, I am only going to cover just a couple of “choosiness” opportunities that give me trouble: my tongue and my time.

1 Peter 4:11 says “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.” For a shocking percentage of time, that is not what happens when I open my mouth or tap on my device.  James 1:26 sets an equally high standard, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” Oh dear!

If I am honest, what underlies my tongue problems are the choices I make when thoughts pop into my head.  The apostle Paul tell us, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). When thoughts of judgement, annoyance, resentment or envy pop into my head, I tend to nourish them as I focus on myself and my desires.  All too often I choose to let those self-nourished thoughts pop out of my mouth.  God desires for us to starve those thoughts by focusing on him.  The choice to replace our thoughts with his enables us to choose words that are life-giving and loving.

Digging a little deeper, I find a root cause of my not-so-great thought and tongue choices – my time choices.  Psalm 199:105 guides us: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” If I choose to spend time reading and studying his Word, I will find wisdom and guidance that will help shape those unruly thoughts and words.

I love the story of Jesus’ visit to the home of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. Martha chose to spend time on what she thought was most important and urgent – preparing a meal for Jesus. Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus, soaking up his teaching.  I admit I am a Martha, often choosing to spend my time on what the world views as urgent and important.  Wouldn’t it be nice if I more frequently engaged in a conversation with Jesus during which he listens to what I have to say and, more importantly, I listen to what he has to say? The truth is that if I spent more time at the foot of Jesus in prayer, all of my choices would be better. 

The bottom line is we are called to be fastidiously selective – choosy! I think being choosy is part of what Paul prescribes in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  I hope this three-part cross will remind us to choose his way, his truth and his life each and every day.  After all, it is good to be choosy!