Decisions

The Year is well and truly under way, and has probably now reached the point where those well thought out and planned “new year resolutions” have slipped out of sight while we weren’t looking.

‘Should we have been paying attention?’ Well yes, but what can we do when other seemingly more important matters demand our attention. Never mind – maybe next year!

On the eve of a new year our minds reflect on what has been achieved, while setting objectives for the year ahead. The sobering fact is, that everything we have accomplished is the direct result of every decision we have ever made to that point.

Good opportunities come to us all. It seems that all too few of us though, are smart enough to recognise them, courageous enough to seize them when they do, or industrious enough even to want to. The easiest option for many is to simply possess a melancholy disposition.

Our eternal destiny is based on this same principle. If we make a decision to follow Jesus Christ and His teachings now, it not only affects our temporal destiny but our eternal one also.

I can still clearly remember the day when I realised that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin and how I was given such an amazing opportunity to be forgiven.

Matthew in the Bible, who became one of Christ’s twelve disciples, is a prime example of this. Despite toll collectors being renowned for their dishonesty and extortion, he gets his big break, and also recognised it when it came along. When Jesus, spotting him in Galilee sitting at the tax collector’s booth, said to him, “Follow Me”, Matthew immediately responds.

But wait a minute, wasn’t he already in an extraordinary good position? Being in the employ of Rome, Matthew had secured for himself a very prosperous career. Not allowing this to cloud his judgement, he immediately abandons all to follow Jesus’ call, esteeming it to be of far greater value.

Like Matthew, we also need to follow Jesus, not just now but for the rest of our lives and like Matthew, we will not be disappointed.