The number of choices we make on a weekly basis are immense! Taking out the garbage, bathing, cleaning our clothes, going to work, preparing meals, and getting enough rest will all impact our overall quality of life. Bad hygiene and lack of cleanliness (garbage removal) will impact long term relationships and long-term health. The absence of work will impact long-term financial viability. The absence of a healthy balanced diet will impact long-term health. These seemingly small choices will impact tomorrow’s blessing!
It is so important that we choose God’s path in order to truly enjoy real blessing and a peaceful home life.
1. Choose Wisdom.
Foolishness Grieves Your Mom’s Heart.
Proverbs 10:1 - The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
Proverbs 17:25 - A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
Proverbs 23:24-25 - The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
In February of 2008, James Fantroy was convicted of stealing over $20,000 of government grants while he served as a City Council member in Dallas, Texas. Because Fantroy had kidney cancer and used a wheelchair, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade told him he could choose between serving a month in prison or publicly apologizing for his actions. Fantroy chose to serve a prison sentence rather than apologize.
When we choose to harbor bitter feelings or resentment towards another person, we think we are getting even with them, but in reality, we are making ourselves prisoners. (Source: Beaumont Enterprise, May 28, 2008)
A fool will choose his own way (Prov. 14:12) over the all-knowing God’s way in scripture. A fool will insist on resisting the instruction to obey your parents, to resist the instruction to love your wife like Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it or will give way to anger and blow up towards your family. A fool will think they have won with the strong arm or manipulation, but they have only imprisoned themselves even more!
A wise man will follow a different path. Proverbs 1:5; 9:9 both speak to a wise man’s path.
2. Choose Instruction.
The English poet Samuel Coleridge talked with a man who did not believe that children should be given any religious instruction at all.
This man claimed that the child’s mind should not be prejudiced in any direction, and when he became older, he should be permitted to choose his religious opinions for himself.
Coleridge said nothing; but after a while he asked his visitor if he would like to see his garden. The man said he would, and Coleridge took him out into the garden, where only weeds were growing. The man looked at Coleridge in surprise, and said, “Why this is not a garden! There is nothing but weeds here!”
“Well, you see,” answered Coleridge, “I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way, I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself and to choose its own production.” (Source: The Speaker’s Quote Book, Roy B. Zuck)
Purposely train your child. Do not let your child train you.
Proverbs 29:15 – The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
Responsibility for our personal choices belongs to the decision maker.
Proverbs 23:19 - Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
A parent must start a child on the right path.
Proverbs 6:20 - My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
A parent must discipline their child.
Proverbs 3:11-12 - My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Proverbs 13:24 - He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
3. Choose Love
Everyone in the human race has faults. Why do we avoid or shun those who sin differently than we do? Should others shun us for the way we sin? Is our sin not as sinful as someone else’s sin? How would we ever reach the unsaved or help other believers grow in relationship with Jesus unless we love them right where they are and point them to Jesus? Love does not tolerate sin, but it does choose to genuinely love the sinner.
Proverbs 10:12 - Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Sometimes kind rebuke, although it stings, can be the most loving thing a believer can do for another. Even though a wise man will receive a rebuke and learn from it, not everyone is in a position for a rebuke.
Proverbs 9:8 - Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
In his book, Moments for Mothers, Robert Strand wrote about the conflicts of a family in Glasgow, Scotland. After years of rebellion, a daughter finally rejected her parents, their values, and their faith. She set out on her own to enjoy a life without restraints, but soon became enslaved to her liberated choices.
Years of misery followed as she lived on the streets, sold herself for pennies, and depended on rescue missions for survival. Because of her self-imposed detachment from family, she didn’t know her father died, or that her mother never quit looking for her. One day she saw a picture that her mom had posted in each of the city’s homeless shelters. Scrawled across the photo of her mother were the words, “I love you still… come home!”
In wonder and disbelief she set out for her home in hopes that she was indeed still loved. By the time she arrived it was the middle of the night. Her heart raced as she stood on the porch and prepared to knock, but her countenance suddenly changed when she tapped on the door and it crept open. She ran to her mother’s bedroom in fear that someone had broken in and harmed her. She desperately reached for her mom and the woman awoke quickly to embrace her wayward daughter. When the young woman explained her fears about the open door, her mother replied, “No dear. From the day you left, that door has never been locked.” (Source: Chicken Soup For The Mother’s Soul, Canfield and Hansen)
This mother made small daily choices that revealed her genuine desire and her longing to reach her daughter. Small daily decisions will add up over time and become quite significant.