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podcast 8-28-2016
Now Choose Life! (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)
Pastor Josh VanLeeuwen – Podcast 8-28-16
How many decisions would you guess you make in an average day? A hundred? A thousand? Neuroscientists estimate the average adult makes 35,000 remotely conscious decisions per day (226.7 about food alone, according to a Cornell University study from 2007). Have you ever stood in a grocery store aisle, staring at all the cereal boxes and bags, or in a drugstore, pondering all the toothpaste brands and varieties, and wondered if we have too many options? Have you ever reached the end of a challenging day and thought, âIf I have to make one more decision Iâm going to collapseâ? According to the same sources, young children make about 3000 decisions daily. Experts suggest that offering your young child a limited number of options (this outfit or that one?) can prevent morning wardrobe meltdowns better than a general question (what do you want to wear today?). That advice is applicable to other choices as well.
Even toddlers get decision fatigue.
Maybe that advice about limited options is good for adults, too. How many of our multiple choice decisions can be converted to binary (yes/no) questions: get up? yes; get dressed? yes; wear this shirt? huh. Do I have to apply this to every piece of clothing in my closet? This might be even more complicated than multiple options. Perhaps a flowchart approach: if this shirt then these pants? Or these? Wow. There is no getting around multiple choices. Although, according to a number of articles, creative geniuses like Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg created a sort of work uniform, which they wore or wear every day to limit the number of decisions they have to make about one aspect of their lives so they could or can direct more of their creative energy to important things. Interesting.
Some decisions really are more important than others. Whether we eat cereal, oatmeal, a protein bar, or nothing for breakfast is pretty much a factor of personal taste (and whatâs in the pantry or fridge) and, other than possibly keeping us full until lunch or leaving us ravenous before ten, is not that significant in the grand scheme of things. Choosing to be kind or nasty when somebody is mean to us is probably more important. Deciding whether to be faithful to our spouse or cheat when we have the opportunity is even more important. Of course these arenât always binary decisions. Sometimes there are many options between the yes and the no.
What about choosing whether to live or die? That seems very important, and itâs a binary decision. So it should be simple, right? In this scripture passage, Moses makes the offer to the Israelites: life and prosperity or death and destruction? You choose. He had just reminded them of all God had done for them and of the covenant God had made with them (and they had broken more than once). He had reminded them what had happened when they turned away from God and worshiped idols, and also what had happened when they were faithful to God and his covenant. This is a no-brainer, he told them. This isnât something you canât do. You can do it! You must choose. Will you love God, walk in his ways, and keep his commands? Then you will live and prosper, and the Lord will bless you. Will you turn away and bow down to other gods and be disobedient? Then you will be destroyed. Simple. Yes or no.
We have to make the same choice. Will we be faithful to God alone and obey his law, or will we turn to idols like money, work, entertainment, or any of a thousand other things that seem to rise to the top of our list of priorities above God? Unlike the Israelites, we donât have hundreds of laws to obey. Jesus, however, not only obeyed all those laws but fulfilled the law. So we need only believe in Jesus, trust him, and follow his example of loving God and loving our fellow human beings. In a way, the old laws were simpler because they were [...]
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By Westview Church Waukee Iowa RCANow Choose Life! (Deuteronomy 30:11-20)
Pastor Josh VanLeeuwen – Podcast 8-28-16
How many decisions would you guess you make in an average day? A hundred? A thousand? Neuroscientists estimate the average adult makes 35,000 remotely conscious decisions per day (226.7 about food alone, according to a Cornell University study from 2007). Have you ever stood in a grocery store aisle, staring at all the cereal boxes and bags, or in a drugstore, pondering all the toothpaste brands and varieties, and wondered if we have too many options? Have you ever reached the end of a challenging day and thought, âIf I have to make one more decision Iâm going to collapseâ? According to the same sources, young children make about 3000 decisions daily. Experts suggest that offering your young child a limited number of options (this outfit or that one?) can prevent morning wardrobe meltdowns better than a general question (what do you want to wear today?). That advice is applicable to other choices as well.
Even toddlers get decision fatigue.
Maybe that advice about limited options is good for adults, too. How many of our multiple choice decisions can be converted to binary (yes/no) questions: get up? yes; get dressed? yes; wear this shirt? huh. Do I have to apply this to every piece of clothing in my closet? This might be even more complicated than multiple options. Perhaps a flowchart approach: if this shirt then these pants? Or these? Wow. There is no getting around multiple choices. Although, according to a number of articles, creative geniuses like Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg created a sort of work uniform, which they wore or wear every day to limit the number of decisions they have to make about one aspect of their lives so they could or can direct more of their creative energy to important things. Interesting.
Some decisions really are more important than others. Whether we eat cereal, oatmeal, a protein bar, or nothing for breakfast is pretty much a factor of personal taste (and whatâs in the pantry or fridge) and, other than possibly keeping us full until lunch or leaving us ravenous before ten, is not that significant in the grand scheme of things. Choosing to be kind or nasty when somebody is mean to us is probably more important. Deciding whether to be faithful to our spouse or cheat when we have the opportunity is even more important. Of course these arenât always binary decisions. Sometimes there are many options between the yes and the no.
What about choosing whether to live or die? That seems very important, and itâs a binary decision. So it should be simple, right? In this scripture passage, Moses makes the offer to the Israelites: life and prosperity or death and destruction? You choose. He had just reminded them of all God had done for them and of the covenant God had made with them (and they had broken more than once). He had reminded them what had happened when they turned away from God and worshiped idols, and also what had happened when they were faithful to God and his covenant. This is a no-brainer, he told them. This isnât something you canât do. You can do it! You must choose. Will you love God, walk in his ways, and keep his commands? Then you will live and prosper, and the Lord will bless you. Will you turn away and bow down to other gods and be disobedient? Then you will be destroyed. Simple. Yes or no.
We have to make the same choice. Will we be faithful to God alone and obey his law, or will we turn to idols like money, work, entertainment, or any of a thousand other things that seem to rise to the top of our list of priorities above God? Unlike the Israelites, we donât have hundreds of laws to obey. Jesus, however, not only obeyed all those laws but fulfilled the law. So we need only believe in Jesus, trust him, and follow his example of loving God and loving our fellow human beings. In a way, the old laws were simpler because they were [...]