HOPE DEVOTIONAL: DECEMBER 27 PRAISE AND THANK GOD FOR ANY CHOICE MADE SCRIPTURES: DEUTERONOMY 30: 15 – 19

Most often, man makes life bitter or sweeter for self, based on the choice made. Choice determines whatever angle mankind ends up, could be success or failure; riches or poverty, glorious or ignoble and so forth. Choice is such a powerful instrument to decide who one becomes and what one ends up with, because God puts into mankind the prerogative of making whatever choice one wishes. Every time of the year leaves human beings with makeing good or bad choices. Funny enough, it seems choosing to do what brings up regrets takes the higher indices in human minds than what brings up gladness.

God gave His people the right to choose what is bad or what will be good for them from the days of Moses. The passage of the devotional tells us this. Obedience to His commandments allows people to live on while the choice to disobey His commandments gives death to the people. Till date the ability to obey the law, either divine or secular, determines one’s comfort or discomfort. Every year, the Yuletide Period has presented mankind with taking to wrong choice than any other period. Many personally chose to spend all they earned from January till November within one week. This has been a yearly affair. The warning against it is preached on the pulpits, talked on social media and published in print media to no avail. The madness of Christmas has claimed its victims again. Many have already started borrowing to enjoy New Year celebration. Some will definitely continue in the borrowing till end of next year. Very sad! Worst of all is some families who lost their dear ones to Christmas rush. Deaths that would have been avoided.

Today’s devotional is saying that praise and thanksgiving should be given to God as the choice we made. Let those who made the good choice find good ground to praise and give God thanks. Making a good choice in life is basically God’s enablement. Making a good choice is from the Holy Spirit and cannot be achieved by human wisdom or power. So it calls for appreciating God any time we are able to do a good thing.

Those who made the choice wrongly should, however, take courage to realign their thought again. God allowed you to enter into the mess so that you can build up wisdom to do things aright in the coming year. Reason experience is seen as a good teacher. All hope is not lost. The Bible says there is hope for the living. As long as one is spared to live on, he or she is joined to all the living and such a person must know there is still hope (Eccl.9: 4). To the latter group, I advise that choice to become wise should be made with grateful heart. Most often, those who become grateful to God when they failed in life bounce back into glorious living. If any of us who are now regretting what was done in the Christmas period can turn our regret to rejoicing. God will give us our second chance.

PRAYER

BLESSED FATHER, through your love and mercy, breathe grateful heart upon me. I desire living in joy every day of my life, in Jesus name.

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