School's starting again and the inevitable returns - homework, reading assignment, peer pressure, and loads of stress. Everyone faces difficulties in their life every day regardless if you are an employee, employer, stay-at-home parent, or student. Dilemmas eventually arise and we are forced to make decisions.
My teacher once told me that the choices we make every day will affect the course of our future.
She told me this story:
“Going through life is like being lost in the middle of a flowing river. You hang on to pieces of driftwood, hoping to survive. As your piece of wood sinks, you are forced to hold onto another piece of wood. The direction of the drifting sticks will determine where you will finally end at. If you make bad choices in your life, like taking drugs and lying, you will end up in a place that you don’t want to be in. Going back to the correct stream isn’t impossible, it just takes that much more effort to get there.”
God created human beings with free will. This free will, unfortunately, caused the fall of Adam and introduced sin into our world. Nevertheless, no one can blame God for creating the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God was creating the greatest creation ever devised, humankind, with the ability to develop righteous character by choice.
God loves us and wants us to make the right decisions. He wants us to become His people, holy and set apart for His purposes. He expressed his love by sending His Son as a manifestation of Himself to live and dies for us. This love is not like the love the secular world understands. It isn’t selfish and inward looking. This kind of love looks out for others and sacrifices itself to look out for others.
In the same way, the choices that we make should be of this kind of love.
God will forgive us of the sin that we commit. The sin, however, have consequences that will disrupt our relationship with God. Addictions can inhibit our relationships with God. Even after we have stopped our sinful activities (gossiping, stealing, lying), the temptation of it will continue to follow us. The best thing to do is to not start at all. That’s what people also say about alcohol, smoking, and drugs right?
It’s never too late to turn back; what choices today will you make?
From the end of your teacher's story: "Going back to the correct stream isn’t impossible, it just takes that much more effort to get there.”
ReplyDeleteIsn't it impossible though? Isn't there no way that we will ever be perfect? And how can we go back if we were never there in the first place?
:D
sorry David.. but I love our stubborn discussions so... tell me why I'm wrong (because I usually am in the end).
http://verythefunny.blogspot.com/
Hey Julie!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you came here... It's so hard to contact you :/ Seriously.. phone doesn't work... no reply on facebook... don't have ur skype or hotmail either...
Anyway, I found the story very confusing at first too.. But I'll explain
The way the storyteller told it is that you can physically swim back to get to the right stream or you can grab at the driftwood in the opposite direction.
And you're on the right track, nobody can be perfect. When I say going back, it's because we were drifting in the direction of perfection. When we choose to believe in Jesus, we are heading in that direction - the process of sanctification - with the power of God. The only day we become perfect is when we meet Jesus.
Yet when we choose to make not so good choices, we're drifting to the worse path. And eventually that might lead to very dangerous conditions such as losing faith in God or getting angry at God.