Consider The Choices That You Make

“Consider The Choices That You Make” Matthew 7:21-27

When the show “Let’s Make A Deal” aired in the seventies, one of the hardest things for people to do was to make a decision. Monty Hall would give them a choice between the prizes they had already won or they could trade that in for what was behind door # 1, 2, or 3. Behind one of those doors was a great prize and behind one was a gag gift. Many of the people would listen to what the crowd was yelling because they couldn’t make the choice for themselves. Before making any decisions it is wise for us to “Consider the choices that we make.”

I’m not a big Country music fan…but I do think that country music has some of the best song titles of any musical genre… Let me give you some examples…

"You Can’t Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd"

"Thank God And Greyhound She’s Gone"

"Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me"

"If Love Were Oil, I’d Be A Quart Low"

"If The Phone Don’t Ring, Baby, You’ll Know It’s Me"

"She Done Tore My Heart Out And Stomped That Sucker Flat"

"How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?"

You know there’s has to be a good story behind everyone of those song titles… I have no idea…

But there is one country song that I do know the story behind it. It’s a song by George Jones. A lot of his songs are "cheat’n & drink’n" songs. And the fact that George Jones had a drinking problem was no secret. And on March 6, 1999 Jones was critically injured in a drunk driving incident. Luckily he recovered, and two months later his new album called "Cold Hard Truth" came out and on it was a hit song titled "Choices", and ironically the hook line says, "I’m Living And Dying With The Choices I Made".

The same is true with every one of us. Life is full of choices: We make hundreds of choices everyday. Some are fairly insignificant (Do I want to eat Chinese food or Mexican food? Do I want paper or plastic?) And then there are the choices that greatly impact our lives.

Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” It is important that we make wise decisions because we live and die with the choices we make.

I would like for us to consider three things today; “Life’s Most Important Choices” – “Suggestions for Making Wise Choices” – “How We Should Respond to Poor choices.”

I. Life’s Most Important Choices – There are a lot of important choices we make in life, but I think these four tops all others.

A. CHOOSING YOUR FRIENDS... We need to be careful in choosing friends because close friends can be a wonderful blessing – or a terrible curse. A friend is someone we trust, someone we talk to and share our thoughts, concerns, and hardships with, a friend is someone we trust to give us good advice.

Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.” A Friend is someone we go to for council. There are people that may have good intentions when giving advice but their advice is based on what feels good rather than on what on what is good. Good advice is never based on temporary things (like our feelings), but eternal things. So, we ought to surround ourselves with people who demonstrate moral character. They will give good advice. Parents ought to know their kid’s friends.

B. CHOOSING YOUR CAREER… Why do people choose the career they do? (Many for financial reasons). But the bible tells us that if we make money the primary factor in any decision, then destruction will follow – 1 Tim 6:6-10, “6Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Many think that money will bring happiness but they are deceiving themselves.

We ought to choose a career that serves a purpose, helps others, and brings fulfillment into our lives. Money is important, we all need to take care of our families, but it should not be the primary factor in choosing a career.