Choices

The Text:

You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.               John 15:16

                                       The Fruit Bearers                                  by Raymond Cody, c. 1992

                  

We often think of ourselves as choosing God: choosing to become active (or not) in our faith communities. Choosing our careers, choosing our spouses, choosing whether or not we will come to church on a Sunday morning.  We like to have choices. 

How might our lives change if we really understood and believed that God chose us first? Would we put more effort into our endeavors? Might we be more joy-filled?                   Could we live more fully into the idea that we are on a mission from God?

When we make choices on our own that are not "of God" it often feels as though we are pushing water uphill. Certainly we have "free will" and can, at any time, reject God's choices for us, but those choices that are not God borne often feel unsustainable and unwieldy.

What choices have you made that may not be God authored? Do they weigh you down? Are they preventing you from bearing fruit?  The first step into reconciliation is to take stock of those things we have chosen and to examine them for signs of God's authorship. It is only then wherein we can begin to cast away those things that are not of God and become spiritually able to be re-filled with that which is truly life-giving and  fruit-bearing.