Men: Make the Right Choices

Joshua 24:15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (NIV)

Life is made up of choices. We can make good or bad choices. It is said that choices have consequences. What choices do you make in your day to day living and how do these choices affect those around you? Men have a bigger responsibility in their choices as they have a following in their homes.

The choices we make everyday affect us and those around us. I don’t know if most people even stop and think about that, but the reality is very true. Everyone’s actions affect everyone else. If that were not true, then we wouldn’t live in such a sinful and wicked world.

If I wake up in the morning, have a bad attitude, yell, get in a fight and say something to one of my family members, that is going to impact their day negatively and as they move forward interacting with others, I have changed the outcome of that by my interactions, adversely effecting their day. This is not to say that they can’t make a choice to change their actions. My experience has been that people respond to negativity with negativity as well as positivity with positivity. They let these actions control how they move forth. Again this is about making right choices and choosing not to let even negative interactions keep you off course. Even in the midst of bad news or a bad interaction, you still can make a choice of how you will respond to it.

We have choices about everything in life, little ones and big ones alike. In Kenya we value our freedom of choice. We choose where we live and what kind of home we live in. We choose to work, go to school or even just live off of others. We also make choices about our attitudes and opinions of others. There are so many choices we don’t even stop to think about, we just go through with our day-to-day routines, continuing to make most of those same choices.

I find it interesting how we get caught up in our regular routines that we often miss it when our choices become harmful or toxic. We end up making poor choices that result in repeated patterns of poor behavior. Somehow we never thought we would make those choices or cross those lines. Now here we are making these extremely harmful choices for our lives that affect others and we now have to work harder than ever at making right choices to become healthy again.

Most of the choices we make are influenced by those around us, what we see and hear in the society and what affects our daily living. As a Christian, some of the choices I make are as a result of the Christian values I attach in my life. While I am not about going to try to tell everyone the choices they should make, I do believe that making well-educated

and informed choices is the best way to go about it doing this. Don’t let someone else tell you what to do, make sure that you can stand on your own two feet when making a choice. Most people are going to try to get you to believe that what they think is right. While some of what it out there is truth, some of it is really messed up matters and not what you need for your life. People will try to tell you that what you believe is wrong in many different ways. We all have our own beliefs about what’s right and wrong. We have our core beliefs and those are generally what guide us. Right or wrong, good or bad, the choices I make for my life aren’t the same as others would make. However based on what I have for my life, I need to make sure that choices I make don’t affect my life and family in a negative manner.

There are specific issues out there I believe that all real men need to be aware of and take a stance on. Real men should reject apathy and passivity and stand up against injustice. Real men stand up for what is right, protect those who need protecting and aren’t afraid to defend what they believe even if it means laying your life down for it. Few men out there are willing to lay their life down for their beliefs, some have and some still choose to make that right choice. These are men I respect and admire.

I also believe in choosing to follow the “Golden Rule” - “ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”Matthew 7:12‘So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets’. (NIV)

I also believe in choosing to follow the laws of the land. Even though I may not agree with everything, I still believe out of respect you make good choices.

Real men’s choices are more about the greater picture and less about themselves. They are able to step back, see the whole picture and realize my choices impact everyone around me. I make good choices because I care about others.

SO WHATEVER CHOICES YOU MAKE, YOU MUST BE READY TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SAME. DON’T CRY FOUL. YOU HAVE YOURSELF TO BLAME.

Your family’s future is dependent on your choices today. My advice to you as a man is to be wise in whatever choices you will be making in life.