Choices

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,” Professor Dumbledore says in The Chamber of Secrets.

It’s true. Whatever aptitude we may have is a waste if we never develop it. On the other hand, however gifted we may be, we lose all that really matters in this life if our choices are only selfish.

This is seen perhaps most poignantly in two figures:

1. Jesus

He, though being God, made himself nothing (Philippians 2:5-8). He came to earth in all humility, to serve, heal, and teach, not under coercion but rather from loving (yet sometimes agonizing) choice.

2. Our own selves

God does not force us to see Him, to seek Him, or to mindlessly obey. He allows us to choose. His sovereignty is total of course. But as C. S. Lewis so succinctly puts it, “For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.”

Daniel, in another time and far away land found himself with few options. Because of his talent and intelligence, he was chosen to train for the mighty Babylonian empire, but ultimately he was simply a captive. Yet we read “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself” (Daniel 1:8). Instead of bemoaning his situation, Daniel focused on what he could control. He chose to act not for himself but for the God he served. It may seem a small choice – what to eat! – and yet it was a choice that set the trajectory for a life of faith lived in exile.

What choices am I facing today? What abilities will I steward for the Lord’s sake? Will I, like Daniel, choose the right – and often difficult – way?

If we can, then at the end we will have fewer regrets and instead be able to look back over our lives and trace the hand of God.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Quotes from J.K. Rowling The Chamber of Secrets
C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain