Choice is a powerful word. It is defined as making a decision when given more than one option. The question last week (Do you believe the Bible?) was about choice, to either believe or not. It raises the question; how do you choose? In one regard the answer depends on what you are choosing. For instance, choosing what menu item to order would be different than choosing a mate.

Choice is a decision, one made by you—most of the time—for you. It is personal based on a plethora of things from emotion, to logic and personal preference. Sadly, in the world we live in today, there are those trying to push their choice onto others. In many cases, they use intimidation in the form of strong words that paint a negative picture if you do not choose their way. This is not a choice, it is emotional manipulation, and it is very wrong. This is a ploy used by Religion and governments as a means to control people.

God made humanity with the ability to choose. This is clearly laid out in the opening pages of the Old Testament book of Genesis when humanity chooses to disobey the word of God. I find it amazing the God who created humankind will allow humankind to make decisions that will doom them for eternity. This is done because of love. You could argue that love would do the opposite in order to save someone from making such a choice. But true love will not violate the sacred will of another human being to choose.

One way to put it is that God loves humanity so much that he is willing to let them die without him if that is his or her choice. That is not to say that God will not put people in that person’s path to convince them otherwise, but he will not violate their will.

I have chosen to love, honor, follow and obey a God that I do not see—even though there has been such an occasion. I have chosen to obey him even though I do not hear him speak to me—even though there has been such an occasion. I have chosen to obey the written word of God because of the experiences I have had with God.

I have chosen not to get hung up on the things that I do not understand, or use those things as a reason to walk away from God or point a finger of blame at God. There have been enough experiences in my life of God’s intervention, that I cannot deny his existence or his love and care for me. There have been enough experiences from people that I personally know where God has intervened in their lives, that I cannot deny his existence or his love and care for humanity. There are ample stories in the Bible, both Old, and New Testaments, of God’s provision for humanity that causes me to believe.

So experience plays a huge role in choosing. Experience can be internal—things I have been through—or external—things people that I know and trust have been through. What I find amazing is when my experiences mirror someone’s experience in the Bible. For instance, I once made a huge mistake in my finances and needs $1,500 immediately to correct it. Someone I casually knew called me up and invited me to lunch. He handed me an envelope with $1,500 in it telling me that God told him and he was to give it to me.

In the Bible Jesus and Peter headed into a certain town. In order to get into the town, they needed to pay a tribute tax. They had no money. Jesus told Peter to go fishing (that makes sense since he was a fisherman). The first fish you catch will have the tribute money for us. It happened exactly as Jesus said.

These two experiences (internal and external) helped me decide that I can believe the Bible.

A close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, is a choice. In this case, there are many options to be considered. You can choose to do life your own way, or the way your friends and family do it. You can choose to do life for good or for bad. You can choose to be self-serving and self-righteous, or others-focused.

With all of these decisions before you, it is an honor to God that you choose to obey him. Such a decision is made daily, sometimes moment by moment, because these choices are ever-present, ever vying for your attention. Therefore, to choose God is a major deal. But, what do you do if you do not have any experiences to draw from? What if there are no external sources whose experience you can grab hold of?

There is a line from several movies that I speak to this. It goes something like this, we stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us. In other words, the stories of men and women, boys and girls who have trusted God and found him worthy of that trust, become your starting point. You choose to believe their story and therefore take a chance on believing God.

There is an Old Testament proverb that says that God pays special attention to his loyally committed ones; those who choose a close personal relationship with him.