“20 He [Herod Agrippa 1] had been very angry with the Tyrians and Sidonians. Together they presented themselves before him. They won over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, and through him they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country. 21 So on an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a public address to them. 22 The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he became infected with worms and died.

24 Then God’s message flourished and multiplied. 25 After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who is called Mark.”

Acts 12:20-25

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Everything we do in life is a series of choices. Every attitude we exhibit, we choose. Every feeling we allow to flourish within us, we choose. Everything we do with our mind, our bodies and our hearts we must choose to either encourage or discourage within ourselves. We are all personally accountbale for all of these choices, and we cannot simply claim to be a victim of our own circumstances, or that we have fallen prey to these difficulties because it ‘wasn’t my choice.’ We don’t often think about the full ramifications of our choices. Aside form the fact that it could consume our days and nights to do so, to think through _all_ of the possible echoes of our choices would overwhelm us and trap us in a place that we cannot deal with and handle. On the opposite extreme, to never consider what we do, to never weigh out the options ,and to just ‘run with our gut’ will leave you in a desolate, dnagerous place as well. We must try to balance choice, responsibility and have some goals and ideals in mind.

A life without foundation becomes an amoral, godless mess. A life with too many rules and regulations becomes an emotionless, Pharisaical mess. Either way, we wouldn’t do a very good job of communicating the Gospel message or living lives that made a positive impact.

So, as we GoLove others in Jesus’ Name, it’s best to look at options, choose what honors God and trust in Him to move through us and those situations. We cannot let choices paralize us, and we cannot let choices that will affect other people go unconsidered. Barnabas, Paul & John Mark obviously made the right choices here, and lives were touched for the Gospel because of it. Herod chose poorly.

We all only have a limited number of days and choices to be made. Let’s make the ones that make an impact for the Kingdom and draw others to God rather than simply feed our ego and comfort the attitudes of sin & self. It’s the smart choice to make.