This I choose

I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations. (Psalm 119:30 NLT)

Obedience has been and always will be an active choice we make every day of our lives. We don't choose obedience once and that takes care of all the concerns we could ever have - it starts with the first step, but we never reach our desired destination with just one step in the right direction! The continual renewal of our act of obedience is necessary if we are ever to leave behind our past dealings with sin and the temptation to return to a former way of acting.

If we want to grow in Christ, it requires us to live 'determined' lives. Not just 'determined' in the sense of being committed and focused, but 'determined' in the sense of having a clear destination in mind and not veering from that course. Too many times, we see God's path for us as a suggestion - choosing to figure out our own path to 'righteousness' somewhere along the way. That is nothing more than sheer foolishness if I may say so myself. Our 'best' will never measure up to his plan or purpose for those steps of obedience he asks us to take.

When God asks us to take certain steps, such as leaving something we have found pleasure in that takes time away from our focus on family or a relationship with him, he isn't doing it because he wants us to be miserable. He asks us to leave so that we can cleave - leave behind what is so distracting and cleave to what really requires our focus more than anything else. Whenever we 'determine' to take God's course of action, we are 'determining' to take ALL the steps toward full obedience he requires - not just the ones that won't hurt too badly or make the most sense to us right now.

I want to warn you here, though. When we determine to get into God's Word, he will hold us accountable to what we have learned therein. To know to do the right thing and then to actively choose to do another is sin (James 4:17). The more we choose right-living, the more 'right-living' we will do. The first step leads to perhaps twenty or thirty more - so do them as he instructs. God's 'regulations' aren't meant to trip us up or keep good things from us - they are meant to help us live with boundaries that protect and guide our lives.

All action has consequences - good or bad. Determined living recalls the 'not so great' consequences of our own self-directed choices. It also chooses to find God's will for what choices should be made to keep us from re-experiencing those 'not so great' consequences down the road. Just sayin!