The power of choice is one of God’s greatest gifts. Because of the freedom He gives us to take charge of our lives, we’re just one choice away from living an abundant life that overflows with joy, hope, gratitude and love. Today, we can expect something good to happen in our lives despite what might have happened yesterday. Today, because of Christ’s promise of abundant life, we can choose to change our story and the direction we’re going; all it takes is one simple choice.
Some people are born and raised fully aware of the blessing and power of choice. For others, something needs to happen that inspires them to choose a better life. That’s exactly what happened to a certain man from Sweden born in 1833. It’s an amazing story of how he took charge and transformed the course of his life in a way that changed the world — and it all started with one simple choice.
He was reading the newspaper one morning when, much to his surprise, he saw his name in the obituary column. It read, “Dynamite King dies.” Although the paper was right about him inventing dynamite, it was very wrong about him being dead. It went on to explain that he had been a “merchant of death”, and those words haunted him. That’s not how he wanted to be remembered. Inspired with a new sense of mission, he chose to work for world peace from that day forward. His name? Alfred Nobel, and he’s remembered today for the great Nobel Peace Prize.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT
What if you saw your obituary in the newspaper? What would it say about your life? How would people remember you? When you consider the major areas of your life — your relationships, career, finances, walk with God — how’s life going? What kind of life are you living? If you are right where you want to be, that’s great! But if your life isn’t what you want it to be, remember Alfred Nobel. It’s never too late to start over. You can create a new story because God gave you the gift of choice.
Someone once said, “If you don’t make time to work on creating the life you want, you’ll eventually have to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.”
Are you creating the kind of life you want? Jesus is clear about the kind of life that can be ours. In John 10:10 He says, “I have come so that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” Christ wants you to enjoy an abundance of life; not just a little bit of life, but a lot! He doesn’t want you to survive, struggle or simply exist — He wants you to thrive. He wants more for you than you can possibly dream or imagine.
MY PRAYER
Lord, thank You for giving me the gift of choice. Help me to always choose Your life-giving ways so that my life can overflow with joy, hope, gratitude and love. Amen.
