Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
It's All About the Moment of Choice
“We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ (2Cor.10:5 The Message).”
You are in an orchestra. You have rehearsed your part and it is a solo piece around which the symphony has been constructed. The first violin has brought the common key for the tuning. There is applause as the conductor enters and takes the podium. There is a hush as house lights dim. The audience sits poised and waiting. There is the wave of the baton, the music begins and after what seems like forever, it’s your turn. You may have played it before many times but each performance is in a different place with a different crowd. You have to be ready. Your eyes move from the score to the conductor. You wait for his gaze to shift toward you. In that moment you place all your confidence in the conductor, your trust in your instrument, the practiced fundamentals upon which you built your experience, the support of the other musicians and your personal ‘feel’ for the part you are playing. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
You are a quarterback and the game is on the line. You’ve been playing for ten years and know the game. You can read defenses and have a feel for where your players are and are going to be but every game is different. Positions change, players change but it’s today and today the field is wet as opposed to dry. Your tight end just had an argument with the coach. The center’s mother died last night. Your wife announced you’re going to be a father for the third time. The media just gave you bad reviews for your last game. Circumstances are never the same except the uncertainty of every new moment. You shook hands with the opposing captain, the referee tossed the coin, the kick off is ready, you know the cameras are on you and for the next hour and a half a stadium full of die-hard fans await your every move. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
While these are roles and moments of drama very very few of us find ourselves in, the dynamics that put those people in place and the dynamics of adjustment are the same for everyone. How we got where we are was filled with the same performance expectations, pressure, judgment, emotional demands, personal goals and desires. In the process it was not the external forces that weighed us down. Rather it was how we responded to them internally in every next moment.
None of us come out of a vacuum. We arrived at where we are through a personal adaptation of mind, heart and spirit to the world in which we found ourselves. The soloist, the quarterback and each of us are where we are based on the choices and decisions we made and that is what equalizes every human being. There are no greater nor lesser people in the world. It is the process of living through choice and decision that defines us. Who and what we have chosen to define that process is our reality. Reality is every next moment demanding a choice.
If the world, with it standards of success, failure and material wealth, has been our guide then that is reality for us. If, on the other hand, we have been shaped by a spiritual standard that is external to the world then that is our reality. Ultimately we choose our humanity to be shaped either by what we can see or what we can’t see. It’s our choices that tell us who and what we are. If there is anything to be learned it is that reality is a process where every next moment is a moment of choice.
The reality of choice takes us to another level of thought. Choice is an ongoing invisible process. Who and what then, in the invisible, the unseen, do we depend on, do we trust, do we believe, do we have faith in, to operate the decision making process? Here’s the dilemma, if we are imperfect, not always sure, not always right, wondering what we should do next, not having all knowledge, not knowing what others think, having ups and downs relationally, how can we ever be sure about our choices, decisions and actions being right? If we believe we are in control and we don’t have ‘warped philosophies, loose thoughts, emotions and impulses,’ we have declared ourselves to be a god. If, on the other hand, we choose God as opposed to being a god then we are coming out of a perfection, a security, a right mind through a right Scripture, that not only knows how to navigate the unseen but also navigates the seen world with assurance. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
Having laid the groundwork here we will move on to the next step and look at Jesus’ responses in every next moment.
You are in an orchestra. You have rehearsed your part and it is a solo piece around which the symphony has been constructed. The first violin has brought the common key for the tuning. There is applause as the conductor enters and takes the podium. There is a hush as house lights dim. The audience sits poised and waiting. There is the wave of the baton, the music begins and after what seems like forever, it’s your turn. You may have played it before many times but each performance is in a different place with a different crowd. You have to be ready. Your eyes move from the score to the conductor. You wait for his gaze to shift toward you. In that moment you place all your confidence in the conductor, your trust in your instrument, the practiced fundamentals upon which you built your experience, the support of the other musicians and your personal ‘feel’ for the part you are playing. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
You are a quarterback and the game is on the line. You’ve been playing for ten years and know the game. You can read defenses and have a feel for where your players are and are going to be but every game is different. Positions change, players change but it’s today and today the field is wet as opposed to dry. Your tight end just had an argument with the coach. The center’s mother died last night. Your wife announced you’re going to be a father for the third time. The media just gave you bad reviews for your last game. Circumstances are never the same except the uncertainty of every new moment. You shook hands with the opposing captain, the referee tossed the coin, the kick off is ready, you know the cameras are on you and for the next hour and a half a stadium full of die-hard fans await your every move. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
While these are roles and moments of drama very very few of us find ourselves in, the dynamics that put those people in place and the dynamics of adjustment are the same for everyone. How we got where we are was filled with the same performance expectations, pressure, judgment, emotional demands, personal goals and desires. In the process it was not the external forces that weighed us down. Rather it was how we responded to them internally in every next moment.
None of us come out of a vacuum. We arrived at where we are through a personal adaptation of mind, heart and spirit to the world in which we found ourselves. The soloist, the quarterback and each of us are where we are based on the choices and decisions we made and that is what equalizes every human being. There are no greater nor lesser people in the world. It is the process of living through choice and decision that defines us. Who and what we have chosen to define that process is our reality. Reality is every next moment demanding a choice.
If the world, with it standards of success, failure and material wealth, has been our guide then that is reality for us. If, on the other hand, we have been shaped by a spiritual standard that is external to the world then that is our reality. Ultimately we choose our humanity to be shaped either by what we can see or what we can’t see. It’s our choices that tell us who and what we are. If there is anything to be learned it is that reality is a process where every next moment is a moment of choice.
The reality of choice takes us to another level of thought. Choice is an ongoing invisible process. Who and what then, in the invisible, the unseen, do we depend on, do we trust, do we believe, do we have faith in, to operate the decision making process? Here’s the dilemma, if we are imperfect, not always sure, not always right, wondering what we should do next, not having all knowledge, not knowing what others think, having ups and downs relationally, how can we ever be sure about our choices, decisions and actions being right? If we believe we are in control and we don’t have ‘warped philosophies, loose thoughts, emotions and impulses,’ we have declared ourselves to be a god. If, on the other hand, we choose God as opposed to being a god then we are coming out of a perfection, a security, a right mind through a right Scripture, that not only knows how to navigate the unseen but also navigates the seen world with assurance. Every next moment is a moment of choice.
Having laid the groundwork here we will move on to the next step and look at Jesus’ responses in every next moment.
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