Choices We’ve Made

Photo courtesy O'Reilly Lewis

 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death. – Proverbs 14:12 (NRSVUE)

We all make choices every day, several times a day. Some of those choices are innocuous but some can be detrimental, to ourselves and to others. Sometimes choices we’ve made place an entire community under siege.

At the time the choice seemed right but afterwards, when reality hits, and we end up in direful circumstances, we realize that it wasn’t the right choice after all and regret soon sets in.

Has this ever happened to you?

You’ve made a conscious choice, and now you are in bondage to a life-changing situation and cannot see a way out. Penitent and pensive, you’re wondering if God will ever rescue you from the calamitous situation that has ensued because of the choice or choices you’ve made.

As time goes on, you begin to truly realize the gravity of your choice, as it adversely impacts not just your own life but the lives of a community of people; your choice has placed everyone in desperate need of saving.

There’s nothing you can do to change the result; you just have to live as best as you are able under the circumstances because the solution to life’s problems does not always lie in changing your circumstances.

There are lessons to be learnt through the choices we’ve made.

God will leave us in the mess we’ve made so that, we might come to grips with who He is and help us to recognize His involvement in our lives.

Understand that all areas of our life, including our spiritual life, is impacted by the choices we’ve made. God gives us an opportunity to choose Him and His way.

God gave the sojourning Israelites opportunities to do exactly that, but they believed that they were making the right choice by not choosing Him and His way. And how did that turn out for them?

Our choices remove our connection to God, not on His part but on ours, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). We are the ones who need to turn back to Him. God wants to rescue us, and He can provide a way of escape.

We may be struggling with choices we’ve made, or choices made by others.

We may be going through painful life situations of our own making.

We may have inadvertently invited suffering to play a role in our own lives and in the lives of countless others.

We may even be looking for someone to blame for the choices we’ve made but our choices are our responsibility.

God has done so much for us that the wrong choices we’ve made were tantamount to spitting in Jesus’ face, striking Him and slapping Him (Matthew 26:67) all over again.

So, how can we make things right, how will things change and how will this change take place?

We must play a part, but it is God who is our solution, He is our only solution.

The very first step involves us. This change starts with us and in us through repentance. Wherever we are, we need to turn to the cross.

Beloved, see yourself as being dead to the power of sin and alive for God through Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11 ERV).

 Don’t change yourself to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. (Romans 12:2 ERV).

You and I need to renew our minds, our thinking, our belief system, and be transformed on a daily basis and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24 ESV).

As children of God, we need to mirror the God within us rather than masquerade for the world around us.

Jesus Christ rescued and redeemed us so that we would make the right choices so that its end is not the way to our deaths, spiritual or otherwise.

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Choices We’ve Made” ©2026 May 5, 2026