It’s Your Choice

A few years ago, Business Insider published an article entitled “23 of the Best Pieces of Advice Ever Given to Graduates.”  Among the collection of quotes presented by writers Max Nisen and Lynne Guey were some remarks from a commencement speech by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos delivered to Princeton’s Class of 2010 (on May 30, 2010):

“Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life — the life you author from scratch on your own — begins.

“How will you use your gifts?  What choices will you make?

“Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

“Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

“Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

“Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

“Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

“Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

“Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

“When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

“Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

“Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

“I will hazard a prediction.  When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.  In the end, we are our choices.  Build yourself a great story.  Thank you and good luck!” *

Think about it: “In the end, we are our choices.”

Life is a series of choices.  Yet, there is one primary choice that outranks all others.

Joshua presented this all-important choice to the Israelites:  “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

Jesus offered this choice when He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

To make the choice to follow Jesus brings salvation from our sins (Ephesians 1:7) and eternal life (John 3:16).

To refuse to accept God’s offer of salvation and life through Jesus brings condemnation and death (Matthew 7:13-14; Romans 6:23).

To make the choice to follow Jesus means to place your faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from your sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess your faith in Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (1 John 1:7).  Then we must make the choice to continue to follow Jesus (1 John 1:7).

Won’t YOU make the choice to follow Jesus?  It’s the best choice you can make!

-- David A. Sargent

* From “23 of the Best Pieces of Advice Ever Given to Graduates” by Max Nisen and Lynne Guey in www.businessinsider.com, May 15, 2013

David A. Sargent, Minister