Choices

Choices! From what we eat to what we do to where we go, we face countless decisions. All I know is the choices we make will eventually make us. So choose wisely!

We live in a "choice" culture.

Everywhere you look there are choices to make and decisions to consider. Yesterday I was at a Walmart and took a turn down the cereal aisle. Now I remember a day when the options for morning breakfast were pretty simple: Lucky Charms or Coco Crisp or Quisp. I ate Quisp for my morning breakfast and nightly snack for years. I ate Quisp all day long. I snuck it to school and church. I sometimes ate 2-3 bowls. There was nothing better than Quisp. Now my older brother favored Quake. Maybe that's why he's taller and has hair. Come to think of it, I do look like the Quisp guy now. I guess it's true: you are what you eat.

But I digress.

As an adult, I've come to appreciate more mature cereals like Special K. But Special K isn't all that special anymore. According to Wikipedia there are now 15 types of Special K cereals: Original, Chocolatey Delight, Chocolatey Strawberry, Cinnamon Pecan, Red Berries, Vanilla Almond, Fruit & Yogurt, Brown Sugar Gluten Free, Oats & Honey, Touch of Honey Granola, Chocolate Almond, Cranberry Granola, Protein, Cinnamon Brown Sugar Crunch Protein, Blueberry Lemon, and Pumpkin Spice (Seasonal).

Now that's a lot of choices.

Or take television. When I was a kid back in the Stoned Age (a.k.a. late 1960s and 1970s), there were only three stations and two of them were weathered (we called them "snowy" because the rabbit ears couldn't pick up the signal well). Basically, you watched what was on and learned to be content, even if you couldn't hear or see very well.

And then cable television came along, and later satellite. Suddenly there were dozens, then hundreds, of channels. I never heard of HBO until around 1976 when one of my friends' parents had it added to their seven-station cable lineup. It was pretty cool to watch theater movies in your home. Today there are seven HBO channels, including distinct ones for "family" or "Latino" or "comedy" persuasions. We can now watch our favorite sports team exclusively, even if we live out of market. We have the Weather Channel uniquely designed to feed us our local temps and forecasts. We have news channels for every political view. CNN. MSNBC. FOX. Newsmax. We have home shopping and home improvement channels, travel and outdoor channels, history and biography channels. There's even a channel just to learn.

Since the advent of 19th century technology in cars, communications and cyberland, Americans have never had more choices.

And the more choices we face, the faster we shut down. It's why most Americans rarely venture beyond their preferences. We go to restaurants and order the same meal. We buy the same brands. We drive the same way to work or church. We play the same games and eat the same foods.

In a Ted Talk I listened to recently, Dan Gilbert made some interesting observations on "why we make bad decisions." He revealed how we tend to choose based upon what we gain and the value of that gain. This is a significant revelation for those who have ears to hear, especially for those who lead in churches, clubs and other fraternal organizations (all of which struggle to attract and retain members).

There's no doubt that church attendance, for example, is shrinking. Every major pollster (from Gallup to Pew to Barna) have noted the fact that Millennials—the most churched generation with the best resources, facilities and professional staff—are walking away from the church in droves. And it's not just churches. It’s the same with Rotary, Kiwanis and Soroptimist clubs. The Elks, Moose, Masons and other fraternal organizations report similar declines in membership.

Maybe Gilbert gives us the reason why. When it comes to joining these communal entities, the Millennial Generation is not seeing a gain nor a value of gain to participate. They are, consequently, choosing better options (in their minds and from their experience).

Church has become just another choice.

And we may not agree with it. We may detest it. We may even preach and teach against it. But that won't bring people back.

Joshua had the same problem back when Israel was a young nation. His people were also choosing to follow other gods. Joshua recognized the problem and drew a line in the desert sand: “Choose this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house we will choose the Lord (Joshua 24:15)."

Throughout the Old Testament you hear the same call to "choose wisely" taught through prophets like Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. You hear it in the wisdom literature of Solomon's proverbs. You see it in the lives of Peter, James, John and the other disciples who chose to follow a Galilean guru who taught he was the way, truth and life (John 14:6).

Life is full of choices.

The best choices are the ones that create liberty and life, beauty and bounty, honor and happiness. It's when we choose to be kind, humble, righteous, joyful, good and patient that things turn to our favor.

We all choose our gods today. Some choose alcohol or drugs. Some choose pornography or greed. Some choose a life philosophy or a religious system. Some choose not to believe in anything at all.

As for me, I still choose Jesus. Jesus is enough. He's always been enough for me. It's why I still make "church" and my two Bible study groups a priority.

I have a feeling that most of you reading this today, feel the same. I also think you'd agree we need more "Jesus" in our world today. Well that can only happen if we choose to make it happen. So let's choose to live like Jesus today. Let's love without condition, serve without discrimination and give without restraint. Let's be the change we want to see. And it starts in our families, our churches, our schools, our workplaces...and eventually in our communities, country, culture and world.

Let's make the world a bit better TODAY. We don't have to do much as long as we all do something.

Blessings,