Choice or consequence?

Life.

Just the utterance of the word is a mouthful.

Emily Dickinson wrote, “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” Charles Schulz said, “I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it.”

But I prefer Howard Nordberg’s take, “Life is a cement trampoline.”

The truth is life is simple, it’s just not easy. Some seasons are hard and others are, well, they’re hard, too.

Yet, so much of the day-in-and-day-out difficulty of life is the result of our unwise choices; choices for which we are one hundred percent responsible. Choices of which, had we taken a different path, would not have resulted in nearly as much difficulty or problems or confusion or pain.

The Bible teaches that life will get ridiculously lousy every time we make unwise or unbiblical choices. This is why the smartest question we can ever ask is, “What’s the wise thing to do?” Nothing will make our lives needlessly lousier quicker than making poor choices.

The smartest man who ever lived, King Solomon, writes about the significance of wisdom in Proverbs. He personifies wisdom as a woman calling out to any who will listen, “Wisdom shouts, ‘I am calling out to each one of you! Don’t miss a word of this – I’m telling you how to live well, I’m telling you how to live at your best. Let instruction and knowledge mean more to you than silver or the finest gold. Wisdom is worth much more than precious jewels or anything else you desire.’”

It never ceases to amaze me how much we blame God for things he has nothing to do with. We’ve all said or thought, “God, how could you let this happen to me?” “God, this is not fair!” “Why, God?” “Why me?” “Why now?” “Why this?”

But like it or not, our choices always have consequences, even when they’re not immediate or visible. There is a point after which you make a choice in which it becomes impossible to sidestep the consequences.

One of the main principles at work in our lives is the principle of cause-and-effect. The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A person reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

This principle doesn’t change just because we’re sincere or sorry, just because we pray or change, just because we’re remorseful or repentant.

If we ignore the principle of gravity we will fall. If we ignore the principle of law we will be arrested. If we ignore the principle of cause-and-effect we will have to deal with the consequences.

We cannot pray our way, repent our way, or plead our way out of consequences. Consequences are the result of choices.

Again, King Solomon writes in Proverbs 6, “Can you scoop fire into your lap without burning your clothes? Can you walk on hot coals without scorching your feet?”

The deal is you can choose your actions or you can choose your consequences but you can’t choose both. Choose wisely.