My goal yesterday was to find a new pair of glasses. Simple enough task, right? Wrong. As I picked through the bunch, finding a few that suited my style, I had a sales person come over asking to see my prescription. She then informed me that my selections wouldn't work for the prescription I had. Now how did I know that there would be some glitch if I found anything I liked? Anyway, I stood there picking up each pair I had chosen as a possibility, only to have her shake her head with almost every single pair. The ones I liked least might work...mght work? So she began bringing me selections she knew would work. Blah, blah, ho hum, and more blah. I'm thinking..."I wanted modern, not my grandma's glasses." "Have you tried plastic?" she asked. Well, sure I have. My first pair of glasses were plastic. And I'm not totally opposed to plastic. It's just that the colors usually don't work well with my skin tone. She brings me a tan pair. BLAH! Me and tan just don't work well together. Black? Nope....too dark. Tortoise shell? Eww...not for me. Wire frames next. John Lennon style? Nope...been there, done that....back in the 80's. Aviator? Nope...another been there, done that. I had this horrible thought that I might end up coming out of there with big bug eye glasses like someone talked me into way back in the day....the ones I couldn't see how I looked in while shopping and ended up hating for the next year. Finally, I found a pair I liked okay and went to make the purchase, hoping to have them in an hour. Ha! No hour wait for you, missy! Well, that's how it sounded in my ear. My prescription is a special order case. Even if I didn't have the progressive lens issue, there's the issue of my one eye that would need a special lens. "Okay, so how long?" I ask. "Oh, only about two weeks." Only? Geez. So moving on she begins to explain progressive lenses to me since I've never worn them before. I kind of knew all of the information she told me, but she had pictures. She had drawings. And then she had to explain all of the additional options. Whew! By the time I actually got around to making the decisions, I had spent 2 hours in there. 2 hours and still no glasses. Yeah, they are on order. But now I'm wondering if I'm having second thoughts. Nah! I'm not going through that again. It's all been done now.
As I reflected on my day I was reminded of all the choices we have to make in life every day. Some choices are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things (like picking glasses), while others have some serious implications in our lives and especially in our spiritual life. Accepting Jesus as Savior or rejecting Him is the biggest choice we must make. While some may think that they can put off making a choice, they have actually made a choice...a choice to reject Him. By rejecting Him, they are doomed to spend their eternal life in hell. That's some serious stuff there. I really don't know why people always assume they can make some death bed confession of faith but continue to live a life without Christ in the meantime. Do they not understand that they may not get a chance to repent if they wait? Do they think they are immortal? I probably thought that way once upon a time. But I think the older you get the more you can see that people don't always have an instant left to say some prayer of repentance. So this is a decision people need to make while there is still time to make it.
Another issue that is of importance are the friends we choose. I am a person who is pretty selective about friendships. Most of the ones I have are people I've known for years. While some don't believe the way I do about God, all of them are aware of my beliefs. I don't try to hide it. Anyway, I was thinking about high school days. Back then (yeah, it's been a long time) I longed to be in with the popular crowd, the cool crowd. But for the most part, they were the drug users and drinkers. And as uncool as it made me, I refused to be a part of that. I knew all too well the suffering that comes from such activities. I stood my ground for the most part....and, as you can assume, I wasn't really accepted into that group. Looking back, I'd say it was a good thing. Here we are years later and many of those friends are addicts. Many have spent time in jail or are currently in jail. Most of them have had failed relationships. And I ask myself, "How cool are they now?" Their rejection hurt for a moment, but in the long run I am a better person because I stood for what I believed and refused to be swayed by peer pressure.
Every day we are faced with temptations. In those times we have a choice to make. At times, the desire to sin is so great and it seems that we can't bear it, but God's Word assures us that we won't be tempted beyond what we can bear, and He makes a way of escape. The thing is, we have to want to escape. I'd say that what we are thinking on can control what we eventually do. If you are rehearsing a sin in your mind, then chances are you'll soon commit it. Years ago I had a young man tell me he was going to remain pure until marriage. Soon after, I discovered that he was looking at pornography. I let him know that if he continued doing that, there would be no way he could keep that vow he had made to remain pure. When you look on something too long, it gets into your heart, and once there, it will manifest in your life. Sadly, that turned out to be the case in his life just as I had suspected it would.
As we read the Word of God there are many instructions for how a Christian should live. It is up to us to choose whether we will be obedient to God's commands or live according to our flesh. It is my prayer that when I come to the end of my life I will have made the right choices.
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