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.
    Stand at the crossroad, 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.

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 to 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 happened to some professed believers who suddenly
stop going to God’s house for worship? What has happened to
believers who 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 be sincere (‘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, 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 or pressing obligations. His goal is to get us
to focus on other honorable responsibilities so we will commit to
them as a replacement for worship.

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

As His ambassadors, God wants us to freely share our faith with
others at any time and any place. He doesn’t call everyone to
become pastors, but according to His Word, He does call us to be
sincere and consistent about our faith. When we do that, we preach
a sermon of our own. We all want to be the best we can be at other
things, and God wants His children to be the best we can be in our
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 review our
level of commitment to the Lord we claim to believe in.

ACTION:
What decisions have you made regarding your faith? Have
you decided to worship and serve Him more, or less each day?

We should strive to be better Christians who are more obedient
to the Lord each day. It is part of God’s sanctification process
of making us more righteous and more like Jesus. If you worship
God less now than you did in the past, what has changed?

Since God never changes, then it has to be you who made the choice
to distance yourself from Him, right? Is it time for you to make some
changes? Shouldn’t you want to worship Him more as time passes?
Where have you been? Where are you going? Where do you have
a desire to go?

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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