Choices

By Rev. Craig A. Brown

Genesis 25:30-33 reads as follows, “and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright." Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what [use] then is the birthright to me?" And Jacob said, "First swear to me," so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob." (NAS)

The natural heart places no values on the things of God. To it the promises of God are vague, valueless and powerless. The present is everything to Esau. The future offers no value to him. A mess of pottage is better than a title to Canaan. The reason Esau made light of the birthright is the very reason he should have grasped it with great intensity. However, to him, the present was everything; the future, a mere trivial thing.

Filmmaker Walt Disney was ruthless in cutting anything that got in the way of a story's pacing. Ward Kimball, one of the animators for Snow White, recalls working 240 days on a 4 1/2-minute sequence in which the dwarfs made soup for Snow White and almost destroyed the kitchen in the process. Disney thought it was funny but he decided the scene stopped the flow of the picture, so out it went. When the film of our lives is shown, will it be as great as it might be? A lot will depend on the multitude of "good" things we need to eliminate to make way for the great things God wants to do through us. (Kenneth Langley)

Your present reality is a result of choices you made in the past. Your future will be the result of a choice that you make today. Everyday life will present you with the opportunity to make choices. See your life as fertile soil and your decisions as seeds. Every seed (decision) you sow into your life (fertile soil) will reap a harvest. What type of harvest do you want to experience?

Use the Word of God as the platform from which you base and launch your decisions in life. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV)