NO CHOICE?

NO CHOICE?
From the sermon “Shechem: Choosing to Serve”
Joshua 24:1-15

Commitment is a choice. We can choose to serve the Lord, or we can choose not to. When Elijah spoke to the people of his day, steeped in their idolatry, he did not say, “Believe in God; don’t believe in Baal.”

Instead, he challenged them: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, then follow him.” (1 Kings 18.21). In other words, if you want to follow Baal, by all means, do so!

Jesus gave a similar choice to his disciples. We read in John 6.66-67: “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well.'"

He gave them the choice to leave him if they so choose.

Choice is of course a two-edged sword—it cuts both ways. We can choose what is right or we can choose what is wrong. We can choose the path to life or we can choose the road to destruction.

But whichever way we go, it is the way we have chosen. Choice is part and parcel of life. Almost everything we experience in life is the consequence of a prior choice on our part.

Now some of us may not agree with this. We sometimes hear remarks like “I didn’t choose to do this” or “I never chose to end up like this” or “I have no choice”.

Let me give an example. Let’s say I am conducting a seminar and one of my participants says to me, “I am sorry I will have to miss the class next week because I have to take care of some urgent matter.”

Note the words used: “I have to miss the class… I have to take care of some urgent matter.” The impression is that he has no choice: he has no choice but to miss the class because he has no choice but to attend to something else.

So I ask him, “What is the urgent matter you have to attend to?” He tells me, “The president of my company is flying in next week, and I have to take care of him.”

“Do you really have to take care of him? What happens if you do not take care of him?”

“If I don’t, I will lose my job.” “So you don’t want to lose your job?” “Of course not, I want to keep my job.” “Is your job more important than the seminar?” “Yes, my job is more important.”

Then why don’t you state your choice honestly: “My job is more important than the seminar. I want to take care of my president, therefore I choose to miss the class.”

We often make a choice but disguise it as a non-choice. “I want to” becomes “I have to”. The reason for doing so is to shift the responsibility of our choice to someone else.

Let us be honest. The next time you say, “I have to do something,” ask yourself if it should be, “I want to do it.”