“It’s no big deal,” I told myself and others when I failed to make edible bread- again. On the one hand, it wasn’t that big a deal. Whether I’m an excellent bread-baker or not doesn’t affect much in my daily life.
But on the other hand…I stopped trying to bake bread. A handful of failed attempts seemed to me like a sign from heaven reading “not your spiritual gift, move on.”
Isn’t it odd how lightly we treat certain things, while also giving them a lot of power over us?
In my experience, girls of 11 to 13 come up against this conundrum of choice profoundly. They have the attitude needed to brush off their choices (see: OMG. NBD. Why are you acting like this about my outfit?!”) At the same time, girls usually have the kind of guilt and shame that makes one bad choice feel like a life sentence driving all their next decisions (see: this is my style. I can’t change it or people won’t like me.)
The conundrum of choice isn’t actually much different for us as adults, except that we usually lack as much boldness in eye-rolling.
We act like we aren’t making a choice, like every little decision doesn’t really matter. Meanwhile, we behave like we are at the mercy of the choices we’ve made already.
It doesn’t make sense, but we do it.
Praise God for His grace!
Somehow, amidst our free will, there’s also God’s sovereignty. Share on X-Our many little choices don’t matter enough to dissuade His love or purposes.
-Yet every little choice matters enough to Him that He will work it for good, according to His purposes.
He sovereignly extends us mercy- not punishing us for treating our choices like they don’t matter. He sovereignly extends us grace- blessing us even through our poor choices with forgiveness, redemption, and freedom.
What this means for us, as we make choices, is we aren’t slaves to our decisions. We don’t need to approach choices fearfully, but with trust and faith. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ- we aren’t under the law of sin and death anymore.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” –Galatians 5:1
Do our choices matter? Yes!
Are they sovereign over us? No!
If you’re reeling from a decision you wish you hadn’t made or feeling paralyzed in the face of a choice you’re afraid to make, take heart. You’re free. As the character Anne of Green Gables said, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
By God’s grace, choices are opportunities to rejoice in our freedom: “His mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).
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Amen! Thank you for these beautiful reminders that we can trust God’s sovereign mercy & grace over our choices! Truly what pressure that lifts off of our shoulders, that should never have been there in the first place. We can trust HIM so much. Blessings to you!
Bettie, I get to so excited about this! The pressure truly is off! God is amazing! Blessings to you, too!
I’m so grateful that it doesn’t all depend on our choices – that while they do matter God can still make something good out of it even when we get it wrong!
I’m so thankful for this, too, Lesley! Our choices matter, but not with so much power that God isn’t still more powerful! : )
Yes and Yes!
“-Our many little choices don’t matter enough to dissuade His love or purposes.
-Yet every little choice matters enough to Him that He will work it for good, according to His purposes.”
God is incredible. Thanks for sharing in this, Lisa!