AT YOUR DECISION CROSSROAD, WHICH CHOICE HAVE YOU MADE?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk
in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said,
“We will not walk in it.”
(Jeremiah 6:16)

MEDITATION:
The Lord instructed the Israelites to ‘make a decision’.
    He wanted them to stand at the crossroads,
    look where they had been, look where they
    are going and look where they want to go.
Then He asked them to look for the “good way”
(not necessarily the easy way, but the good way).

He gave them these instructions for one primary reason,
    He loved them and He
    wanted what was best for them.
But how did they react? They turned their back to Him
and decided to ‘chart their own path’. They ignored the
fact that God is ultimately in control and the road He
mapped for them was the ‘good way’.

Does this sound familiar? Do we do the same thing? Does
our desire to be in control cause us to turn our backs to
the Lord, and ignore His instructions for us? When we are
independent of Him, we will rationalize and justify many
of our thoughts, words, and actions that are contrary to
God’s will for us.

What has caused some professed believers to suddenly stop
attending God’s house for worship? What causes believers
to freely talk about the Lord on Sunday, but appear to be
embarrassed to mention Him (and their faith) the rest of the
week?

In Jeremiah 6:16, God was telling them to choose who they would
serve. If it was to be the Lord, then they should be sincere about
it (‘walk in it’). God wanted them to be committed to putting Him
first in all things. He wanted them to be consistent about their faith,
and not to be people of faith one day, and someone else the next day.

One of the clever schemes of Satan is to convince us that our
sincerity and dedication to the Lord can be casual. In other
words, he wants us to believe it is okay to continue in sin, but
just not as much as we did in the past.

And he wants to make us think that it is okay to worship from
time to time, but God doesn’t really expect us to worship when
we have other needs, wants, or pressing obligations. His goal is
to get us to focus on other honorable responsibilities and habits
so we will commit to them as a replacement for worship.

Even if were true that things which are not sinful can replace
our worship (and of course it is not true), when we substitute
anything for worship, then worship becomes less important
and we will soon find ourselves gravitating to the sins of our
past (and probably new sins as well).

As God’s ambassadors, He wants us to freely share our faith with
others at any time and any place. He doesn’t call everyone to be
full time pastors or missionaries, but according to His Word, He
does call us to be sincere and consistent about our faith. When we
answer His call, we preach a sermon of our own. We all want to be
the best we can be at other things, and God wants those who belong
to Him, to be the best they can be in their relationship with Him.

Why does God want this for us?
It is for our benefit (“you will find rest for your souls”).
What was true in the days of Jeremiah, is still true today:
    God loves us and wants what is best for us, but
    we have a responsibility to make the right choices.
We need to “stand at the crossroads” and evaluate our
level of commitment to the Lord we claim to believe in.

ACTION:
We should ask ourselves:
    – What decisions have I made regarding my faith?
    – Have I decided to worship and serve Him more, or less each day?
    – Have I justified or rationalized some sins to be okay in moderation?
    – What things do I do that I know Jesus would not do?
    – Is it time for me to make some changes?
    – Shouldn’t I want to worship the Lord more as each day passes?
    – Where have I been? Where am I going? Where do I want to go?

We should want to be more dedicated ‘followers of Jesus’ and have
a desire to be more obedient to the Lord each day. When we were
saved, God began a ‘sanctification’ process of making us more
righteous, so we will become more like His Son, Jesus.

If we are not becoming more righteous, then what does that indicate
about our faith? Salvation is not a ‘one and done’ event, it is the start
of a process that purges us of unrighteousness and fills the void with
more righteousness. We should become more ‘refined’ each day until
our ‘sanctification’ culminates when we meet the Lord at the end of
our earthly journey.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father,
    if I have knowingly or unknowingly made the wrong choices;
    if I have turned my back on You;
    if I have failed to be consistent in showing my faith;
    if I have failed to let You have the reins of my life;
    if I have failed to read Your Word often;
    if my prayer life is casual at best;
    if I have been disobedient to You;
    if I have dishonored You with my words or actions;
    if I have sinned against You (all sins are against You);
then please forgive me and help me to find the ‘good way’ and ‘walk in it’.

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