November 22, 2024 Devo

Last Sunday, I finished a three-part sermon series on “Choices.”  The last message was titled, “How To Choose Like A Champion.”  In other words, how to guard your heart and frame your mind to make good choices along the way.  My last point in the message was a pointed and powerful thought.  I stated that the most important choices you make in life are rarely easy.  So choose the hard that you want.  You’d serve yourself well to think long and carefully about that statement.
Let me illustrate.  Staying in a dead-end job that’s going nowhere is hard.  But going back to school to find a job you want is hard.  So choose your hard.  Being overweight and dealing with the health complications that come along with it is a hard way to live.  But getting into shape, changing your diet, and staying on a path of health is also hard.  Choose your hard.  Staying in a marriage where things are difficult and there are lots of things to work through is hard.  But getting a divorce and dealing with all the complications and struggles that come with it is hard.  Choose your hard.
You see, sadly enough, many people make choices believing that their choice is going to be an easier road.  But it almost never is.  It’s often just as hard if not harder.  It’s just a different kind of hard.  So we can’t choose roads based on how easy they will be.  We have to choose them based on who WE want to be and where we believe those choices will ultimately lead us.
James and John wanted places of honor next to Jesus.  All they could see was the glory and glamour of fame.  But Jesus knew what they didn’t.  The road to following Him was going to be filled with pain and difficulty.  That’s why He asked them, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”  He wasn’t telling them it was the wrong road.  It was, in fact, very much the RIGHT road.  But it was not going to be an easy one.  And they needed to be prepared for that.  So do YOU.  Whatever road you are on, you will be presented with choices that will define your life.  Stop looking for the easier ones.  Those are an illusion.  Every choice of value comes with a price.  Choose your hard.  That’s God’s Word for you today.