Right Choices Produce Character
Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! Deuteronomy 30:19 (New Living Translation, NLT)
We make choices, then our choices make us. In other words, we literally choose what we become. As I choose to follow Christ, I become a follower of Christ. I can choose to love others, walking in God’s love towards others. By this, I become more like God because God is love. I can choose wisdom over foolishness, and I will avoid becoming a fool. A person who chooses to take and never give back becomes a taker. On the other hand, if he chooses to give, he becomes a giver. Our choices largely define what we become. Choices that line up with God’s Word make us more like God, producing godly character in us.
Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Deuteronomy 8:2 (New Living Translation, NLT)
Even when we make wrong choices, we can turn things around by beginning to make better ones with God’s help. And we are not at the mercy of other people’s bad choices. True, their bad choices may affect our lives, but as we make the right choices in how we respond, we can impact the situation. We can overcome evil by choosing to do good.
As we choose to do things the way Jesus did, God will make us more and more like Jesus. As we choose life rather than death and blessing instead of cursing, we will reap a good harvest from our good choices. And more importantly, we will become mature sons (and daughters), fit for the Master’s use.
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Philippians 1:11 (New Living Translation, NLT)
