“My choices determine my character, which in turn determines my destiny.”

This truth holds serious implications now, your future, and eternity! 

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 demonstrably more important than others.

The choices to marry and who to marry are infinitely more life-changing than what we have for lunch. 

The most life-altering choice I have made concerns Jesus Christ and his claim to be Lord. Choices such as marriage, education, and career have greatly affected my life, but none has been as impactful as my decision to accept Jesus as my Lord. This relationship is the foundation from which I want to make all my choices. 

Our choices can be life-changing. Therefore, I want to remind you of how important it is to choose wisely.

Since time is something we are “running out of,” I will begin with there.

Choices About Time

How much time do you think you may have left?  Why do we need to be serious about how we use our time? 

The fact we are running out of time should challenge us to concentrate on our values and the choices we are making.

Here are some numbers about time to think about. What do 168 and 8,736 have in common? 168 is the number of hours we have in one week. What is 8,736 about? You’re correct if you have concluded that 8,736 has something to do with hours. 8,736 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. I don’t have a choice about how much time I have left but I do have a choice about what I will do with the time I’m given each day.

I begin each day thanking God for granting me another day to live. Today, I get to choose how to invest the time I am given and prepare myself for the life ahead with no time limit. What about you?

Now, let’s look briefly at another critical issue related to our choices, character.  

Choices About My Character

 How do my choices affect the person we become? The choices I make each day determine my character, which in turn determines my future. This reality should remind us of how important the numbers 168 and 8736 are , and the need to choose wisely during the 24 hours I’m given today. Now, today may be the only time I have left. I must make good choices about 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 evident that popularity, wealth, and personal appearance are given priority by many, without much concern about the deeper life issues character. 

Could it be that many of the problems 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 renewing your mind.”

I think many have been deluded by the incessant rhetoric of some politicians who espouse the lies and nonsense that human beings can make our own rules about right and wrong. You can be whatever “sex” you think you are. You can believe there are no deeply moral issues about abortion. You can use the power of national institutions and news media to  persecute political opponents. You can tell people struggling to pay their bills that they are delusional, they are really better off than they are.

While the problems of inflation, the porous border, imbalance of justice, and many of the ills we face are complicated, there is one issue at the heart of our challenges. We must have leaders of good character and wisdom to lead us. We must have leaders who put the American people over their personal ego or agenda. Sad to say, upright character is woefully lacking in many of the current administration. 

Now, let’s get a little more personal about our character. It’s quite easy to criticize the moral failures of elected officials isn’t it? But, how are we doing character-wise? 

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 checkbook; how we spend our time and money. How we use our time and money indicates what is most important to us. Our behaviors related to these two resources give a vital clue about our deeply held values.

Our religion, is not what you profess to believe but how we live. Our choices are the real test of who we are, not what we think or say about ourselves. Day after day, we make choices that, little by little, make us more like Jesus or put us further and further away from being the person we were created to be.

Daily we decide how we treat God, ourselves, family members, and others. Our character is always developing or devolving, and we must understand and cooperate with God’s plan and make wise choices in how we invest our lives.

Who will be in ten years if you continue to do what you are doing now?  

Jesus tells us to keep things 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?

You may have heard of or read the story of how Jim Elliot and some of his missionary friends were killed by some of the people they were attempting to serve in Christ’s name. Elliot said this about serving Jesus,  “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose.”  

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 at the regular price of $14.95 or e-book at Amazon. 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