About choices

Choices – some good, some bad

We make choices all the time. Some choices are fairly irrelevant. Some are very important. But all choices form who we are. Obviously it’s a bit more important what wife I end up with than whether I wear a blue or a red t-shirt tomorrow. But all choices form our characters. And my character is who I am. Commercials tell us that we are what we drink, eat and wear, and there is some truth to that. But generally speaking I am what my character is. My character defines me. For better or for worse. And my character is formed by all my choices. Choices turns into habits. I do or say the same thing over and over again. Some habits are good. Some are bad. All habits define us. Habits can, thank God, be broken. Breaking bad habits is a down-to-earth-way of saying: experiencing more freedom in Christ!

Renewed life is Christ always means renewed understanding with the head and with the heart, and it means new thought patterns and habits.

This Wednesday I have the privilege of leading 12 young men and women who come here to Kiev to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). Our website, http://www.ywamkyiv.org/, tells us that a DTS is a journey into God’s Heart. And that’s true. We search God’s Heart trying to get to know him. We want him to renew our characters. We want him to search our hearts and point out where we have made bad choices and formed unhealthy habits.

And then the choice is up to the students and us as staff who’ll be in the lectures and participate in the DTS. I know God will do his part. God is God. He is incredibly good at pointing out our growth areas. But God is also a God of love. He doesn’t force us to grow. He’ll point out and ask to accept his challenge, his healing and his tips of how to form better habits for the future, but he doesn’t force himself upon any of us.

I’m excited to see God work. I am excited to see how we will respond. I need changed habits myself. God has been working a lot on my character my whole life, but especially since I joined Youth With A Mission (http://www.ywam.org/) three years ago. But there is still a lot of work to do.

I’m ready for new lessons in God’s School. He knows what he's doing, even when I don’t understand.

“On Christ, the Solid Rock we will stand. All other ground is sinking sand. On Christ, the Solid Rock we will stand. We will climb on Your back, take us to higher ground” (“Solid Rock”, Delirious?)