CHOICES

My Grandma “thing” when my grandsons have birthdays is to sew them pajamas of flannel fabric they choose. A few weeks ago, that meant our local fabric store rocked with excited boys going up and down its flannel aisles.

I could predict the soon-10-year-old's choice: cats. The third-born (6 the end of September) usually followed his middle brother's choice of dogs. (Grandson #2, born in January, will get his shopping trip later this year.) But this time, to my surprise, #3 insisted he wanted the fabric that showed the sun and the planets of our solar system! I matched the PJ bottoms fabric to ready-made tee-shirts. Oh my, the grandson who chose the SUN chose a blinding orange shirt.

Choices! Not all of life's choices are as easy as the favorite flannel for pajamas. But because God gave us free will to choose—not wanting us to be celestial robots—our history has rocked with bad choices. The ones that His Son visited earth to die for. Whenever I read First Corinthians, I can imagine Paul gritting his teeth in sorrow over the sin prevalent in that city. Sexual immorality flourished and new believers were having a hard time separating themselves from that lifestyle. 1 Corinthians 5-6 record the debauchery of that ancient city: immorality, greed, swindling, idolatry, drunkenness, excessive lawsuits, cheating.

Are we much different? Does our culture run by the rule, “Everybody's doing it, why not?” Paul answered (especially in regard to immorality): “Flee it” (1 Corinthians 6:18). The problem is...the problem is all around us. We're fed it in the media: movies, television, public performances, the entertainment and connections offered in privacy via the internet. Subtly, they shape our thinking.

We make choices: to indulge or reject. Paul's advice 2,000 years ago still fits. He emphasized that while we have free will to make choices, not everything in our fallen culture is right for us. “I will not be mastered by anything,” he wrote (6:12). I think of that when I read how those who idolize high-profile entertainment figures are so crushed when a concert is sold out or canceled. Or even how social media can encourage attitudes and reactions that are far from “what would Jesus do?” Paul's long-ago warning still applies: “Not everything is permissible for me [as a Christ--follower]--You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19b).

Oh my, from kid choices for pajamas to life choices in the bazaar of life's bizarre stuff. I did get off on a tangent. My grandson's flannel choices for PJs will last them about a year as they grow. But the big life choices they make—between good and evil—will have years-long, even life-long, consequences. So this grandma prays as she sews, that they will sow choices that lead to righteousness, in all they do and say.