Each of us is designed for a specific purpose.
It is not a choice.
But what we do with our unique design and purpose is our choice.
I have the freewill to put on my design and face the challenge of my purpose, or retreat in defeat.
Fear and uncertainty are not excuses for retreat. I must face my Goliath.
This is my Goliath. Writing. All the intellectual trickery in my arsenal cannot change that fact. And like David, I go it alone.
Yes God is there with me, but he does not fight that battle for me. He has already given me all the tools I need to win; now it is up to me. He cannot win this battle for me.
Sobering. These thoughts. I know as I move forward, as long as I move forward, latent abilities, tools and talents will come to the fore. I will become the person I was meant to be and designed to be as I advance forward in battle.
I was not designed to fail.
But I can choose to fail.
I may think I can choose not to choose, but not choosing is still a choice. It’s a choice to do nothing –which is itself a choice to fail.
Failure to face Goliath has consequences. I can choose to retreat or advance yes, but I can’t choose the consequences of either.
The consequences are set in stone.
Therefore it is wise and practical to choose by looking beyond the choices themselves to the consequences of those choices.
I must act with an eye on the desired consequences, not the desired choices.
If I only see and act upon choices with disregard for their consequences I will invariably choose that which is easiest at the time. I’ll take it easy on myself. I’ll “live for today”. Yet I’ll soon be “living today” the devastating consequences of those decisions.
Shortsightedness sabotages my future presents.
These are hard truths. Hard because I’ve already suffered the consequences of my sometimes ignorant and sometimes willful disregard to look beyond the choices. Hard because I clearly recall the more I chose to “take it easy” the more I was hit by the negative consequences of “taking it easy”. Yet in spite of the obvious source of these consequences I was even more inclined to continue the negative spiral, by choosing again and again to “take it easy because life is hard and I deserve it.”
The Truth will set me free?
The truth can set me free if I am vigilant. If I take responsibility for my life and my actions by actively rejecting the “take it easy because life is hard and I deserve it” attitude.
Only if I look beyond choices and act on the consequences hidden behind them will I successfully defeat my Goliath.
And become the person I was meant to be.
The person I was chosen to be, predestined and fore-ordained before the foundations of the world.
The person I would have chosen to be if it were my choice.
The person I do choose to be because, after all, it is my choice.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows.
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh,
from the flesh will reap destruction;
whoever sows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time
we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:7-9 (NIV)
13 But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal
to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 3:13-14 (NIV)
67 Before I suffered, I did wrong,
but now I obey your word.
68 You are good, and you do what is good.
Teach me your demands.
Psalm 119:67–68 (NCV)
For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you
and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
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