Your choices determine your character, who you are. Your character determines your destiny.

This blog is about Truth # 4 in a series I’m calling “5 Life-Changing Truths”. This and the other life-changing truths are covered extensively  in my book , Heaven’s Currency, Investing In The Things That Matter Most. http://www.cosdavis.com/heavens-currency-investing-in-the-things-that-matter-most.

Here is the essence of Truth # 4. ” My choices determine my character, which in turn determines my destiny.” Think about it, memorize it, and repeat it often to yourself. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go in life? Your choices will form your character. Who you become will determine your ultimate destiny.

Sometimes we are confronted with competing choices. What will we do? Where will our choice take us?  Choices are important. Of course, some choices are more important than others. The choices to marry, and who to marry, are infinitely more life-changing than what we have for lunch. 

To me, the most life-altering choice I have made concerns Jesus Christ and his claim to be Lord. While there are other choices such as marriage, education, career path, etc. that have greatly affected my life, none has been as important as accepting Jesus as my Lord and attempting to follow Him daily. As a matter of fact, Jesus’ lordship is the foundation from which I want to make all my choices. 

Now, I want to discuss a few ideas about how important it is to use our choices wisely, with an emphasis on something each of us is running out of, time. We need to be serious about our choices about how we use this valuable resource. The fact we are running out of it should challenge us to concentrate on our values and the choices we are making.

Let’s begin with some numbers. What do 168 and 8736 have in common? 168 is the number of hours we have in one week. From that, you have probably concluded that 8736 has something to do with hours also. It is the hours we are given in one year.

On average an American male lives 76 years, while women outlive us by 5 years. Like me, some of you are “living on borrowed time.” One thing I am aware of is that my “days are numbered.” I am running out of time. While I don’t have a choice about how much time I have left, I do have a choice about what I will do with the time I’m given each day.

Each morning I thank God for granting me another day to live. Today I get to choose how I will invest the time I am given and prepare myself for the life ahead that has no time limit. What about you?

 Now, let’s focus a bit on character and the choices we make each day. The choices I make determine my character, which in turn determines my future. This brings me back to 168 and 8736, and more importantly to 24, the hours I’m given today. This may be the only time I have left. I must make good choices about how I will invest my life because those choices will determine my character.

The importance of character doesn’t get much coverage in social media, tv, or the news nowadays. It is quite evident to me that popularity, wealth, and personal appearance have the top ratings for many people. Could it be that many of the issues we confront daily are related to the fact that we have bought into the shallow values that are being sold in the marketplace of this world? Remember Paul’s caution to us in Romans 12:1? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Choices reveal who we are. It has been suggested that you can get a pretty accurate idea about a person’s character by examining their calendar and their checkbook; how they spend their time and money. The way we use time and money indicates what is most important to us. Your behaviors related to these two resources give a vital clue about your most deeply-held values.

Your character, your religion, is not what you profess to believe but how you live. The choices you make concerning your resources are the real test of who you are, not who you think or say you are. Day after day, you make choices that, little by little, make you more like Jesus or put you further and further away from being the person you were created to be.

Your incredible power of choice is exercised in many ways every day by how you treat God, yourself, family members, and others. Your character is always in the process of developing or devolving, and it is critical that you understand and cooperate with God’s plan and make wise choices in the way you invest your life.

Who are you going to be in ten years if you continue to make the kinds of choices you are making now?  

Jesus tells us to keep things in our brief life in perspective. Our time is limited and we need to be sure we have invested our time, money, and other resources in those things that have eternal value. “Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust can ruin them and thieves can steal them. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.” (Matthew 6:19-20).

God has given you today. How will you invest it?

Jim Elliot and some of his friends were killed by some of the very people they were attempting to serve in Christ’s name. Here is what Elliot had to say about serving Jesus,  “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose.”  Jim Elliot 

If you want to read a book that will challenge you to get serious about your choices, I encourage you to read my book.

Available now for only $12.95  on this website or you can purchase the paperback or e book versions at Amazon at the regular price of $14.95. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=heaven%27s+currency%2C+investing+in+the+things+that+matter+most&crid=2AIWDR62WJ4TH&sprefix=%2Caps%2C61&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

 

Additional reading: Why do our choices matter? Check out my blog “3 Reason Why Your Choices Matter.”  https://www.cosdavis.com/3-reasons-why-your-choices-matter/