CHOOSING THE GOOD

Dear friends,

        When can we finally say “Enough!” ? When can we choose another way? A professor once told his class he’d been a fair pianist in his youth. His mother required him to take piano lessons, twelve years in all, and he became quite skilled, accompanying church or family or performing a piece others delighted to hear. He didn’t always like doing it, but he continued because he had the skills and felt he was needed.

        Then one day he realized he didn’t want to play piano any longer. “I didn’t dislike the music, but I just didn’t want to play it any more,” he said. “People asked why I’d stopped and urged me to go back to the keyboard. They said I was too skilled to stop, and some even said I was wrong. But I made my choice and I’ve felt it was the right one.” Dr. Walter Bartling told us this as a seminary professor, a teacher of the New Testament, not music.

        God has given us capabilities to make choices. Some of our choices are good, but others are not. Some choices may be impossible. I can’t just wake up some day and say I’ll never eat food again (I need it), or I’m going to run a marathon (Impossible!). But just because we’ve done something in the past doesn’t mean we must keep doing it. I’m not referring to major or essential choices, whether or not to believe in God or to end my life. I refer to our minor choices, what to do today or avoid, what to wear, where to go or what to consume. Not all choices are equally possible or good. We choose according to our needs, and that can be difficult.

        As Jesus lived, prayed and learned the Holy Scriptures, He discovered why He had come to the earth. His Heavenly Father showed Him what was needed - to save the world from eternal destruction. Since sin had come into God’s creation, it had become doomed, headed for needless disaster. 

        Jesus followed God’s prompting and became God’s Divine Intervention for the world, and He continued on His path through life. He could not one day just stop being a Savior, although in the Garden of Gethsemane it was tempting. He didn’t say, “Enough!” and walk away. He chose to stay on course and do what we needed but could not achieve ourselves.

        Yet, one day our Lord said just that. He was at the end of His earthly life, dying on Calvary’s cross, and finally He said, “It is finished!”(John 19:30) He had completed His chosen task, and we praise Him that He stuck with it to the end. 

        As you make your choices today, do you best to see they are good ones. Ask the Lord to guide you and help you choose what will build up, not tear down. Let Him help you hold on to the good and set aside what is not.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for helping us choose what is good.

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com