The only person who can determine your future is you. What you choose to do will determine the outcome. What path have you chosen?
Proverb 12:15,
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
What Path In Life Have You Chosen?
If you are almost twenty years old, and if you live to be 100 years old, about 20% of your life is over. More than 20% of your life is gone if you do not make it to 100.
What path are you on as you head into the future? Are you on the path of fools or on the path of the wise? God’s Word has advice that you must choose to heed or dismiss. The choice is yours.
What Are The Biggest Problems You Have Faced So Far?
Other than relationship problems and your salvation, you have been challenged with mostly minor concerns in life, like completing math and English assignments, submitting homework on time, and staying focused in class. Now as you enter a new phase of life, it is time to resolve some real-world challenges.
Have your choices in the small things fared well? Luke 16:10 says, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
I came across an article describing nine challenges students in the U.S. face in school: poverty, homelessness, child abuse and neglect, bullying, violence, obesity and eating disorders, pregnancy, suicide, drugs, and dropping out.
What Is The Cause Of Your Problems?
The majority of poor children come from families headed by a single, female parent. The solution in this case seems rather obvious, but people tend to continue in the way of fools, rather than to hearken to counsel. Though some make changes for the better, most seem to be stuck on the path of fools. In spite of the educational, political, and social solutions of the past fifty years, these problems have not been eliminated. Why? What do you think the problem is? What will you do about it?
Who Will Solve Your Problems?
It is your turn to be an adult and to make the choices that will change your world. These choices will determine your personal success or failure. If you are unconcerned about the problems in your world, if you are uninformed, clueless, or fearful of what it would require of you to help solve them, the problems will continue to be unresolved. This does not bode well for you either. It does not bode well for your children. If you cannot see the problems in others’ lives, learn from their mistakes, and do better, you will fail too.
Currently, the failed solutions to social problems today are typically blamed on homelife and community circumstances. What do you think? Are your failures due to someone else failing you? Will God judge your parents, your friends, your teachers, or your government for the choices you make?
Here is a piece of advice I want to give you: If you are defined by what others do, you are doomed to fail because there is nothing you can do about what others choose to do. You can only choose what you will do. Personal choice to do right is the solution to problems. Personal choice to do right in spite of home and community influences is the way of the wise.
Who Will You Blame For Your Problems?
Why did Satan fall while in the perfect environment of heaven? Why did Adam and Eve fall in spite of perfect conditions and only one law to keep? Who is to blame for their problems and wrong choices?
When you stand before God, you will answer for the choices you made. The problems and solutions in your life are about the personal choices you make. When the world around you is crummy, what will you do?
Accepting Responsibility For What To Do
Environment and home training give advantage. And with opportunity there is accountability. But regardless of your environment, you will answer to God for your choices. And if you do not take personal responsibility for yourself, you are doomed to go the way of fools.
In contrast to Satan, to Adam and Eve, and to those raised in Christian homes, my wife and I were raised in families who did not know God. We did not go to church. We were trained in public schools and were immersed in secular, humanistic education.
A Story Of Personal Choice
My wife was one of five kids raised by a single mother. As a little girl, she worked in the fields digging vegetables out of the ground for her grandpa to sell in the farmers’ market. She did this until she left home for college.
During WWII, her mother, grandparents, and relatives were sent to internment camps for Japanese Americans. Her sister was born in the Arizona internment camp. Her family lost their land and property. And while that was happening, her dad was drafted and sent to fight on the German front.
After being released from the camp, the family had to make a choice. My wife’s dad returned home bitter, abandoned his family, and ruined his life. Her mother and grandparents chose to rebuild their lives.
When I met my wife and her family, it was twenty-five years after the time of the internment camp. Grandpa owned a plot of land and was growing and selling vegetables. My wife’s mother was working during the day as a receptionist for the telephone company. In the evening, she worked in the packing shed preparing vegetables for the market. She did this after cooking dinner for the kids, which often included me and other friends who came to the house. My wife’s mother made a choice to overcome her problems. She chose to be responsible and raised her children in spite of the challenges.
All five kids made a personal choice to learn. All five graduated from high school, and four went to college. All five have excelled by the world’s standards. They made a personal choice to learn, to learn well, to be educated in order to make good decisions, and to make themselves valuable to their communities.
Their difficult circumstances and environment did not doom them to poverty and ignorance. Not every choice has been good, but my wife chose Christ. Then she helped me learn about Christ, which led to my personal choice to accept Christ. That choice changed our lives for good.
Some people make good choices in spite of their education, home life, and circumstances. Others make foolish choices in spite of their education, home life, and circumstances.
What Will You Choose To Do?
As children of Christian parents, and having been given a Christian education, you have been blessed with a great deal of good in your lives. You have been cradled, coddled, and cared for. But what you do the rest of your life with all that has been given to you is your personal choice.
Twenty percent of your life is over. Hopefully, you have spent this first twenty percent learning how to avoid repeating bad choices. Hopefully, you have made the way of Christ your way and have learned that any choice and every choice you make is yours to own. If so, you will never fail.
