Do You Really Get to Choose?

Everyone wants a choice. We want to choose what we will do, where to go, how to dress. A lot of popular campaigns advertise having the ability to choose, the right to decide what we do with our bodies, our families, our lives. But do we really have a choice? Is everything our decision?

Joshua 24:15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Most things we do get to choose. Even the Israelites, the chosen children of God, got to choose whether they would actually follow God or not. We choose our actions and our friends. We choose what to do and where we will live. We choose whether to obey or go our own way.

But one thing we do not get to choose is the consequences of our actions. We want the right to choose what we do, but we don’t want the negative consequences that come with wrong actions. We want to be able to do whatever we want without having to pay for it. Unfortunately, every action has an outcome and we don’t get to choose that.

Galatians 6:7-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The results of our actions are natural and we do not get to choose them. Yes, we get to choose what we do, but we then have to face the consequences of those actions. If we choose rebellion against God, going our way instead of His, we will face negative consequences for that. If we do good, we will reap a reward, if we sow sin we will reap punishment, both in this life and the next. Our actions have natural consequences here that we must face and most people don’t realize the suffering they endure is the result of their wrong actions. But we also must face judgment for what we do after we die. We will all be repaid in eternity for our choices here, and that we do not get to choose.

What are you facing because of your actions? Where are your choices leading you? Are you sowing good or bad? Watch your choices, you may get to choose them, but they choose the consequences.