7 – Character is the finished product of our choices, crystallized, set, hardened into a pattern. (Rev. 22:11)
7 – This world is not moved by double-minded men, unstable in all their ways.
8 – We cannot change our hearts, but we can change our minds; and when we change our minds, God will change our hearts. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hat not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
Abraham’s Decision: The First Pilgrim Father
13 – The heroes of faith in Heb 11 do not remind us of modern, successful Christians. And what shall we say of the apostles who were virtually the world’s rubbish, the scum of the earth? The inspiration of most Christians today is not the cross-bearing disciple but the popular big shot.
15 – It is the separated man who can help weaker Christians, in time of trouble.
Lot’s Decision: Settled in Sodom
20 – We have conquered the atom, but we have not mastered Adam.
21 – We have never had more to live on and less to live for. Work is God’s provision to keep us out of meanness. Much of the youthful unrest today is due to the fact that too many youngsters never do a day’s work.
21 – Lot’s fateful decision, his monumental blunder was seeing the fertile plain of Jordan and a chance to get rich quick (Gen. 13:11). Lot did not take moral and spiritual dangers into consideration.
22 – The consequences to Lot’s decision—he lost his influence with his family—seeming as one that mocked, to his sons-in-law—and died in disgrace with his own daughters.
22 – A man never makes a bigger fool of himself than when he settles down in Sodom for personal advantage…he had no business settling down with that crowd for selfish gain at the expense of his soul.
Moses’ Decision: “Choosing…Affliction With the People of God.”
25 – Youth has been put on the pedestal, and one might well say with the preacher in Ecclesiastes 10:16: “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child…”. Isaiah bemoaned the day when children should be princes and babes rule over the people, when the child should behave proudly against the ancient (Isaiah 3:4,5).
26 – Consider what a choice this young man made. He was the only free Hebrew of his time. His prospects were brilliant; wealth, ease, refinement, pleasure, and power were at his fingertips. Josephus says Moses was in line for the throne of Egypt, one of the greatest civilizations of all time. All this the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter could have had, yet he cast his lot with a nation of slaves. He chose to risk his life for a host of ignorant bondmen living in exile. They were a weak, vacillating multitude of undisciplined servants, easily discouraged, often rebellious, and quick to fall into the sinful ways of the heathen. They vexed Moses, until he lost his patience; spoke unadvisedly with his lips, and missed getting into the Promised Land himself. Nine out of ten would call him a fool for making such a choice, but he was right.
27 – A man must say no to some things if he is to live for God (Neh. 5:15).
27 – Moses was right, not only in what he refused, but in what he chose—choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God and the reproach of Christ. This is a foreign language to the average church-goer today. We leave comfortable homes to ride in comfortable cars to sit in comfortable churches to hear comfortable sermons. What do we know about the reproach of Christ?
27 – Some people would never join church if they thought it would cost anything to be a Christian; so now we emphasize how much fun one can have in a deluxe country-club Christianity. The former pastor of the church where I belong says that less than a hundred years ago the members of the church were ridiculed and the pastor was hissed as he walked along the street. Things are different now and it is not because times are better. We are a weaker breed of Christians, who know little of the scandal of the cross.
28 – When we choose our crowd, we should do it with the long view.
29 – We live in an impersonal age, and man has become as impersonal as the machines he operates. Even religious activity becomes a cold program of projects; it lacks the warmth of a Person…our involvement with people should grown out of our identification with Him. Too many, who have never become personally involved with Christ Himself, are trying to change society and make the world over.
30 – We preach a new Christianity (versus the cross) that stresses similarities, not contrasts; that parallels the world instead of intersecting it; that makes no unpleasant demands of its converts. It imitates everything the world offers and copies, instead of contradicts, the spirit of the age. Christianity is just a better way to have a good time. We would make it acceptable to a generation that cannot endure sound doctrine and wants its itching ears tickled. Joshua’s Decision: “As for me and my house” David’s Decision: Doing Right the Wrong Way
48 – There is no greater hindrance to genuine spirituality than a superficial familiarity with Christianity from childhood. We get so accustomed to it that we play marbles with diamonds. We are hearing everywhere about relevance; we had better do something about reverence.
