Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"The sower soweth the Word."

Mark 4:14

I've made a serious decision ...No more excuses!

Every day that we live we are offered many, many choices. A simple example of this would be going to the grocery store. High carbs, low carbs?  Sweetened, unsweetened?  Low fat, limited fat, or who cares how much fat?  But then there is saturated or unsaturated fat?  And now we even have a choice of... red or green catsup?  With all of these choices, which ends up in my shopping cart?  It's the ones I personally decide upon.

And after I get my food home I get to decide whether to broil, bake, fry, steam, wok or pressure cook, but what I'm going to cook was already decided upon before I got hungry, while I was still at the grocery store.  Often, we set ourselves up for failure by prior choices, sort of like a recovering alcoholic who goes to a bar "Just" for fellowship.  I'd like to lose about10 pounds, but it it isn't going to happen if I fill my shopping cart with fattening
choices, and guess what?  I can't blame my mother because I'm over weight!  Yes, she may have set a poor example for me to follow or cursed me with a slow metabolism, but now that I am an adult and doing my own shopping, I am making my own decisions about what I'm going to eat or how much I'm going to exercise,
which will determine my weight.

So often we hear people use the excuse to sin by saying,"that's the way I was raised" or, "his/her mother taught them to be lazy by doing everything for them," etc., etc.  I don't buy those philosophies because I can remember using the way I was raised as an excuse to choose sin rather than righteousness.  When we are born into the family of God, all of those old things should pass away.  But when we decide to hang on to them and use them as our crutch for sinning, it is our own choice.

Each day we are faced with a choice to follow God or to follow our old evil nature. Yesterday's decisions are past, and a whole set of new choices face us each day. Yes, God is full of forgiveness, mercy and grace, but does this mean that we should willfully continue in our sinful ways after we have decided to follow Jesus?

Romans 6: 2-4 NLT
"Of course not!  Should we keep on sinning when we don't have to? For sin's power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ; through His death the power of your sinful nature was shattered.  Your old sin-loving nature was buried with Him by baptism when He died, and when God the Father, with glorious power, brought Him back to life again, you were given His wonderful new life to enjoy."

Every morning when I wake up, I have choices presented to me.  I can sleep in and not work, I can rush off without reading the Word of God and praying, I can eat wrong, choose to hang around with the wrong friends, etc., but each of these decisions that I make also come with consequences that my mother, nor anyone else, should have to pay for.  I will suffer the consequences of my decisions, whether they be good or bad.  Joshua said to choose you THIS DAY whom you will serve, when he said that as for he and his household, they would serve the Lord. (Josh 24:15)

Romans 6:16 NLT
"Don't you realize that you can choose your own master?  You can choose sin (with death) or else obedience (with acquittal). The one to whom you offer yourself--he will take you and be your master and you will be his slave."

After we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we find two distinct choices offered to us: obedience or disobedience to His Word... we are FREE to choose between righteousness or unrighteousness.

Romans 6:18; 20-23 NLT
"And now you are free from your old master, sin; and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness."

"In those days when you were slaves of sin you didn't bother much with goodness.  And what was the result?  Evidently not good, since you are ashamed now even to think about those things you used to do for all of them end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and are slaves of God, and his benefits to you include holiness and everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

So if I am free, why do I continue to sin?  It's because of the decisions we make to please our old fleshly nature rather than following after the Holy Spirit and pleasing God.

Galatians 5:19 NLT...emphasis added.
"BUT WHEN YOU FOLLOW YOUR OWN WRONG INCLINATIONS, your lives will produce these evil results:  impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and
criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group---and there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing.  Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God."

When we decide to follow Jesus, our lives will produce the fruit of the Spirit of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Gal. 5:22) Our daily decisions are serious...they lead to spiritual life or death. Serious decisions are made by each of us new each day.  We either choose to overcome sin by calling out to Jesus to help us, or we give in to the temptation to please ourselves.

Galatians 6:24
"Those who belong to Christ have nailed their natural evil desires to His cross and crucified them there."

I've made a serious decision.  I have decided to follow Jesus, how about you?

Galatians 6:25 NLT...emphasis added"If we are living now by the Holy Spirit's power, let us follow
the Holy Spirit's leading in EVERY PART OF OUR LIVES."

No more excuses!  The next time you find yourself having a fit of anger, jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, greed, laziness, are choosing a debilitating addiction, or are involved in lustful desires, seeking power or sinful pleasure, ask yourself who you have decided to follow and please.

Romans 7:7 NLT...emphasis added
"Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, BUT those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God."


Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ Jesus,
Marlene JuHaros.
www.prayervine.org

a.k.a. PrayerVine

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