The Cornerstone of a Worthwhile Life

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

My thoughts about the verses:

There are times in our life when we make foolish choices.  Choices that we wish we could go back and change.  We make choices that affect our life forever.  Choices we know affected us in ways that brought negative consequences in our life.

This is truer for people that have committed crimes.  Their choices may have been something that they made in a quick moment of passion.  Their choices may have been caused by drugs or alcohol.  Their choices may have been something that they had thought about for a long time and decided to act on them.

The sad part is that their actions affect other people.  It affects people that did not make bad choices.  People who were living their life and then all of a sudden it changed because the action of someone else.  There are times that the people are never able to recover because of the other person’s choices.

I want to share one of those moments with you.  This change happened because someone decided to take and drive drunk.  He was not thinking about consequences when he decided to drive after drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.  The night of the accident my parents and brother were out working.  They were finishing the job for the night so that we could leave the next day and go with the rest of my family on vacation.

They had stopped at a stop light.  When all of a sudden they were hit full force from the rear end.  A large metal tool box that was in the truck that my mom was driving came through the back window shattering it.  It struck my mom on the head and caused her to have a concussion and end up with a benign tumor on her brain.  The impact of the crash caused my dad to be shaken so bad that it damaged his hip.  My brother had glass go down his back.  They all suffered from whiplash and went into shock.

The man didn’t even realize that he had hit another car.  He had passed out and was not injured at all.  When he came to he got out of his car to see why it would not go forward.  That is when he saw that he had hit the vehicle that had been knocked 300 yards from impact.  He tried to run away but through their pain my family was able to keep him at the location.

It took almost an entire hour before the police and ambulances arrived.  The man was arrested and got to jail before my family got to the hospital.  The ironic thing is that the man was released from jail that morning while my family was still at the hospital being checked for their injuries. 

His actions that night led to my mother and father being permanently disabled.  My dad had to have a hip replacement.  My Mother’s back, neck and head were all injured which finally led to her being dependent on a wheelchair.  They didn’t make the choice to get hurt.  Instead they were the victim of someone else’s choice.

We need to realize that we can make wise choices that will not only affect our life but others.  We can also make foolish choices that can affect others forever.  We have to make sure that we choose the right things as we go through life.  We have to focus on doing things that will help ourselves and others.  We need to weigh the options and choose what will turn out good for ourselves.  We also need to make sure that our choices do not negatively affect others.

There is one choice that we have to really need to look at.  We can make the choice to serve God or to walk away from God.  We can choose to ask Jesus in our life or deny Jesus access to our life.  We can choose the wise choice or we can choose to be foolish.  Our choice in this action will affect us more than any other choice we make in life. 

Imagine the repercussions that come from not choosing to allow Jesus in your life.  When you do not choose Jesus you will not have the free gift of salvation.  Your choice will keep you from receiving eternal life.  You will not have a friend that will be with you through all things.  You will not have the strength of Holy Spirit who will carry the majority of the weight that you struggle with.

We have all kinds of choices that we make in our life.  We make choices that are wise and lead us away from temptation.  We make choices that put us right in the middle of our worse temptations.  We make choices that will lead to everlasting life.  We need to decide today what kind of life we really want to live. 

Prayer:

We thank you God for your love.  We thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation.  We thank you Holy Spirit for helping us here on Earth.  We ask now that you help us make the right choices.  Help us make decision that will not lead to negative repercussions for ourselves or others.  In the name of the Almighty we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you given your life over to God?  Are you making wise choices in your life?  Have you made foolish choices that affecting you?  Have you made foolish choices that have negatively affected others?  Is today the day that you change the way you make choices?