C. S. Lewis notes in Mere Christianity,
"...every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature."
I was thinking about this... about how we make a decision and it turns us one way or the other.
I wondered at how many times my knee-jerk reaction to something was more likely a choice towards death than life, judgement than mercy or curses than blessings.
More towards squashing fruit than growing it.
Being 40 I can stand here in the middle of my life and look back on the journey to this point.
The roads I took which caused me great pain and miserable shame.
The highways I wandered that I don't want to visit again.
But the good choices; the times I made a decision for right things and God-things... these have surprised me with sweet consequences.
Good fruit.
Like going out to pick raspberries and discovering that the bowl you brought is going to be too small. An abundance!
And the prickles don't seem so bad anymore. The effort to be righteous instead of selfish has paid off.
Rich Mullins said, "choose your fire".
He said that we are all going to get burnt in life. It happens.
But we can choose to be burnt by the fire of sin or by the fire of obedience.
One will destroy us; the other refine us.
I wondered at how many times my knee-jerk reaction to something was more likely a choice towards death than life, judgement than mercy or curses than blessings.
More towards squashing fruit than growing it.
Being 40 I can stand here in the middle of my life and look back on the journey to this point.
The roads I took which caused me great pain and miserable shame.
The highways I wandered that I don't want to visit again.
But the good choices; the times I made a decision for right things and God-things... these have surprised me with sweet consequences.
Good fruit.
Like going out to pick raspberries and discovering that the bowl you brought is going to be too small. An abundance!
And the prickles don't seem so bad anymore. The effort to be righteous instead of selfish has paid off.
Rich Mullins said, "choose your fire".
He said that we are all going to get burnt in life. It happens.
But we can choose to be burnt by the fire of sin or by the fire of obedience.
One will destroy us; the other refine us.
The refining will make us all we were meant to be. But the choice to indulge in our sinful nature; pulls us away from our real identity. In Christ. We want more of God's presence in our lives?
Then we need to yield to the refining fire of God to burn the impurities out of our hearts and minds.
It's His LOVE that calls us to this process. His unswerving committment to kindly draw us to repentance for our own good and the sake of His Son.
Choices. Little things that add up to huge diversions off the good and narrow path of life; or continual little decisions to die to self and do what is right not just what is easy; that keep us stepping forward.
In the moment of a choice; I know too well how easy the fruit can be destroyed.
How much easier it is to react to an annoying behaviour with irritation and anger than patience and a prayer.
My pride quickly pulls out the air-freshener of self-righteousness and "Oh, it wasn't that bad" or "Well, they deserved it." to mask the odour of rotting fruit.
But sooner or later, I smell the stench of scorched goodness.
Stolen seeds of kindness that are now smoldering along the path.
Little things.
But they add up and as C.S.Lewis says; changes the central part of us.
Our heart and soul.
Along with some ladies from church, I've been studying the book of Daniel.
(I'm not much for Bible Studies; but when Jesus tells you to do a Bible study, it's funny how He gives you the resolve to actually DO IT!)
Daniel's buddies ended up being thrown alive into a fiery furnace by a powerful, pagan King after refusing to bow down and worship him.
They would not compromise their convictions and chose death over denying the One Holy Sovereign God.
It's His LOVE that calls us to this process. His unswerving committment to kindly draw us to repentance for our own good and the sake of His Son.
Choices. Little things that add up to huge diversions off the good and narrow path of life; or continual little decisions to die to self and do what is right not just what is easy; that keep us stepping forward.
In the moment of a choice; I know too well how easy the fruit can be destroyed.
How much easier it is to react to an annoying behaviour with irritation and anger than patience and a prayer.
My pride quickly pulls out the air-freshener of self-righteousness and "Oh, it wasn't that bad" or "Well, they deserved it." to mask the odour of rotting fruit.
But sooner or later, I smell the stench of scorched goodness.
Stolen seeds of kindness that are now smoldering along the path.
Little things.
But they add up and as C.S.Lewis says; changes the central part of us.
Our heart and soul.
Along with some ladies from church, I've been studying the book of Daniel.
(I'm not much for Bible Studies; but when Jesus tells you to do a Bible study, it's funny how He gives you the resolve to actually DO IT!)
Daniel's buddies ended up being thrown alive into a fiery furnace by a powerful, pagan King after refusing to bow down and worship him.
They would not compromise their convictions and chose death over denying the One Holy Sovereign God.
I don't think they got to that level of integrity by accident; or in one moment of choice.
I think the history of choosing to follow God over the culture of their day was firmly and repeatedly established in their lives by obedience.
The coolest thing was; they not only were kept alive and whole; their bonds burned off but their skin untouched;
they
did not
even
smell
like
SMOKE!
Incredible.
Is it possible that there is a ripple effect of our choices?
That to choose to be kind in one area, or pure in one area will inevitably affect the rest of our 'garden'?
Or the opposite is true. We can't be rude or lustful in some parts of our actions without it affecting our whole soul.
Maybe, Jesus had that thought in mind when He said "If your eye causes you to lust; gouge it out, for it is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell...".I think so. He knew tolerance towards sin is playing with fire.
I think Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of that furnace free and smelling good as a result of many investments into the bank of obedience.
Little daily choices to serve their King and not their culture.
Good fruit.
Like an abundance of raspberries.
I want to smell like that.
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