Choose Carefully
Today’s scripture selection: Second Chronicles 1-5
Key verse: Second Chronicles 1:7
Do you know the TV game show named “Let’s Make A Deal”? It features a simple gimmick that plays into people’s desire.
The host shows the contestant three curtains. He then invites the contestant to choose one. Behind one there might be a new car; behind another a fantastic vacation package; behind another something totally worthless. And of course, the contestant doesn’t know which is which. He or she just has to gamble that the choice made will be the right one.
Well, a long time ago God and a king named Solomon had a little conversation. But it was no game show. It was real life. And God told the newly crowned king, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Solomon could have asked for a long reign; a beautiful queen; a mighty army; even more wealth than he already had – anything.
What did he choose? He asked for wisdom.
Discernment – that’s what he wanted more than anything – the ability to govern wisely. And that request was one that God was pleased to grant.
Even to this day, Solomon is known as being the wisest of rulers.
You and I are likely not faced with such mammoth possibilities. But the idea of choosing carefully is still an important principle for us to apply in our own lives.
Every day we are faced with so many decisions; so many choices.
Doesn’t it make sense to ask for one thing above all? Doesn’t it make sense to ask for God’s abiding wisdom to guide us in all the rest of our decisions, large and small?
It’s no game show. It’s real life. And making the wrong choices can be disastrous. So choose carefully. Choose wisdom.
Prayer: Lord, like Solomon, grant me wisdom that all I do may be pleasing in your sight. AMEN.
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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