From the moment we wake up, we start making choices. The alarm sounds, and we hit snooze. We stop the ringing and begin scrolling. At some point, our feet hit the floor and we go about our day. While these decisions are so small that we make them almost on instinct, it would be a mistake to consider them insignificant. The fact is, they move us along a particular path.
For example, I once was in the habit of checking my email as soon as I woke up. During my healthcare administration career, I often found work emails awaiting me there. Now as a general rule, a work email sent overnight probably contains something upsetting, either because of its urgent content or the sender’s sleep-deprived state leaving them lacking in tact. It probably comes as no surprise to you then, dear reader, that my choice to start each morning checking email - automatic though it often was - meant starting many days feeling anxious or angry. It sometimes led to me replying in frustration (which, unsurprisingly, never helped). And with all of that happening before sunrise, it didn’t take much for the rest of the day to quickly go south.
Now, we don’t wake up and choose to have a bad day. Most people don’t set out wanting to hurt others. Yet, that’s exactly where the choices we make often lead.
Left unchecked, our automatic choices put us on the road to ruin.
Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many” (Matthew 7:13). Just react immediately. Say what you think. Do what you’ve always done. It takes no effort to go the wrong way.
But it always leads to destruction. It destroys moods and ruins days. It wrecks relationships and, ultimately, ends lives. No exaggeration: God, the Author of Life, created us to live a certain way. Going with the flow of the world is not it. And if we keep moving away from the Source of life, death is the only place we can possibly end up.
So, we have a choice to make. Consciously or unconsciously, we make it every day. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). And if we’re not choosing? Well, then we are making the worst choice of all.
Explore more in our serious lesson series on Sin.