In my quiet time, I looked in a concordance and found the word choose (Hebrew) means: to take a close look at something to determine my preference in the matter. It holds the connotation of testing or examining. The root origin is related to tilling the ground.The idea is that, through examination, I am able to distinguish the best or most useful option.
I believe making a choice is more organic than commonly portrayed. Organically speaking, I grow into the choices that reflect who I am even as who I am comes into focus. An ugly duckling of a choice becomes a swan in time. True choosing is a process and like any process it is perfected over time. The fruit born proves the good nature of the seed that was planted. There are stages in its development when it will look awkward, but in the end, it is a reflection of Christ in me, as me.
As I am asked to “choose life” I am asked to take a keen look, to test and examine life, to till its ground…until I am able to recognize life as my most valuable option. I choose through recognition.
If I liken choice to preference (as in the Greek) then self-awareness plays a key role in making choices that fit. To know myself is to know my preferences. It is a matter of identity – a key element of the gospel. My inability to choose God was solved when God chose me. Fallen man had a fallen nature – filled with fallen choices. God solved this conundrum by crucifying fallen man in Christ, joining us to Himself, making a brand new creation.
The goal of the gospel is to reveal God’s view. God sees me in union with Christ. Words like fallen, cursed, or sin-natured are false images in the context of a new creation. I am not depraved, hard-hearted, sinful, disobedient, unwilling, unteachable, unsubmitted, or rebellious. These words simply do not define me.
I share in Christ’s divine nature; His nature becomes my own and even my choices are affected by that truth. Redemption is a reality but it is hard to manifest when the news I continue to hear is less than good. There are many voices that would tie me to a corrupt nature, even though the Gospel is radical good news that claims otherwise. Here’s even more good news – God uses all things for the good of those who love Him. I don’t need to be preoccupied with darkness or light; God uses them both for His purpose.
To believe Him and to trust His work is to remember all He did to fashion this new creation. Remembering who I am in each moment is the work that automatically aligns choice with true preference. I choose according to who I perceive myself to be. Choosing is a simple matter of recognition. To recognize myself in union with Christ is to experience the purification of choice.
To take the focus away from choice is to return the focus to the goal of seeing myself as God sees me. Choices that reflect Him become a natural movement. It is no longer about good, bad, smart, stupid, right or wrong choices. It is about being still, tilling the ground, remembering who I am so that I can recognize life as my most valuable option. Choosing is a form of mind-renewal and every choice serves to remind me of who I am.
Recognition reflects being while choosing reflects doing. I focus on the being, not the doing. The spider is identity, its web is like a myriad of choices. As I deal with the spider the subsequent choices are not a problem. I remember who I am. I am affirming oneness, ending duality, and choosing daily…but I never make doing more important than being. I am assured that change comes faster to those who see who they are than it does to those who try to do what they should. When my focus is on being then choosing occurs without thinking.
“My inability to choose God was solved when God chose me. Fallen man had a fallen nature
Ah! Thanks for reading, Sara! It is a subtle paradigm shift for me as well. My need for Christ is utter. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. Christ is the perpetual purifier of all my choices. I need not fear my own choices for my choices (and my choosing faculties) are not separate from Christ. I choose in union and can therefore trust that every choice is used to prove who I am and who I am not.
The dawn is beautiful! A small paradigm shift can remind us that the whole man was in union with the wrong source – and now the whole man is in union with Christ. That makes everything safe…even the choices “I” make.