“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

“Passion is always risky. The Bible gives example after example of people who fell in love with Jesus and left their jobs, their families, their security. Once people met Jesus, their passion became hazardous to their health. People were estranged from the church and rejected by their parents; they became unemployed suddenly, ended up in jail, lost their lives, became personae non gratae, and were accused of being drunkards. Passion is not something to be treated lightly. The passionate life is a risky life. The question is: Is the passionate life worth the risk?” (Michael Yaconelli. Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith (p. 116). The Navigators. Kindle Edition.)

I remember the first day I talked to my wife at the church we were both attending. At the time we sang in the choir, and of course she was beautiful, and I was the luckiest man in the world to have her attention. Anyway, in the course of time, we married, and soon were introduced to other young couples, with and without children, and these couples became part of our church and social reality. Over the years I have observed the changes that have happened to all of us, all of the couples. They were changes I never thought would happen when we first met, changes that none of us would ever imagine would happen to us. Some of them lost their passion for each other – others lost their passion for the church. The changes were unimaginable because we thought we were in control of our futures. And in some ways we do have some control, especially control over the passion we have for life, for each other, and for G-d. We will never know where our choices will take us in life, but, as I said in my devotion on December 2, our choices make the future “us”. In the process of making our choices, we should be asking the Holy Spirit to guide us in our choices, and to infuse us with passion.

The church is filled with people: they are not all righteous, not all perfect, and not always passionate. I have said often that our collective identity as Christians comes in the fact that G-d loves us passionately and has chosen us first through our baptisms. This alone, not the people we socialize with, not the people we worship next to, and not the family we come from, but our chosen-ness by G-d is what marks us as G-d’s people. This also should infuse us with a passion for loving G-d and loving our neighbor.

Pastor Dave

“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” 1 Kings 3:9

‘Every time you make a choice you are turning the central point of you, the part…that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.”’ C. S. Lewis

“One of the most moving stories in the New Testament is recorded in all four Gospels. Jesus was having a meal at the home of Simon the Leper. Many people were there, including some of the disciples, when a woman barged in uninvited and poured expensive perfume on Jesus. Shock and anger swept through the room like a tidal wave. “How dare you waste such expensive perfume,” the guests chided. “You could have sold the perfume for more than a year’s wages and given the money to the poor!” (Michael Yaconelli. Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith pp. 114-115).

Life is about choices – every day will present the opportunity for each one of us to make a small or a significant choice – choices like “What will I eat for breakfast?” or “Which college will I attend?” We always hope that the choices we make will be guided by wisdom and experience, but that cannot always be the case. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden said, “There’s a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.”

Over the course of a lifetime, the choices we make will define the kind of person we have become. The woman who approached Jesus and anointed him with the perfume made her choice – and what she did that day has made her famous beyond anything she could have imagined.

David had his faults, and his bad decisions, and though he is remembered as one of the great leaders of G-d’s people, he could have been even greater had he made better choices at critical times in his life.

Today, you will have many choices. How will you spend some money today? How will you help someone today? Where will you see G-d active in your life? Will you take the time to show your neighbor you love them? Remember the choices you make every day, make you.

Pastor Dave