Choosing your future – 2019!

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

The New Year 2019 awaits us just around the corner and thus in today’s sermon we shared the importance of making the right decisions in the new year to come! The future is unpredictable and we all will face different circumstances, some good and some bad. However, more important than the circumstances is how we respond to them through the decisions we choose to make. It was God who first chose us and thus created us with a plan and a purpose. Our parents were passed on the responsibility to make choices on our behalf when we were a child. However, there comes a time when we take on the responsibility to make our own decisions. This is one of the greatest gift and responsibility God has given to us: the freedom to choose for ourselves. In order to become great leaders of tomorrow, it all starts with making the right decisions. To display a perfect example, we did a walk-through of the life of Moses. Moses made four big decisions in his life that ultimately led to serving and fulfilling the plan and purpose God had for him.

The four decisions he made were: 1) He refused 2) He Chose 3) He Understood and 4) He Endured.

1. Moses refused – to be defined and pressured by others. Whether it is in school among our classmates or outside of school, all of us face pressures that enforce us to put an a false identity and lead us to behaving in ways that would please them. Moses grew up as a royal prince with expectations and pressures from his family. However, when Moses realized the truth of his roots, he refused to live a life of lie. He knew that real success was being and living as a person who God made him to be in the first place. In the same way, as a young teen, we should not hinder from pressures of others who attempt to define who we are. Rather, we should remind ourselves of who are creator truly is, the purpose He has given to each one of us, and pursue it.
2. Moses chose – short-term pain for long-term gain. Moses had to make a decision of letting his royal position down. Although he could have reaped the benefits of his position and enjoyed the pleasures, he chose to let it all go. Today, most of our problems arise from the inability to delay instant gratification. The pursuit of this seasonal pleasure leads us to a kick back. It will get back at us after. As young teens, we should understand that long-term gain awaits us should we choose to do the right thing, which most often is the hardest thing to do.
3. Moses understood – the suffering for the sake of Christ as greater value than worldly values. Moses chose to be disgraced (to be a slave) as a greater value than to continue his life of lie as a Prince. Moses understood and prioritized God’s values over worldly values of wealth, fame, power and pleasure. Moses knew a greater reward awaited him in heaven. In the same way, as young teens, we should understand and choose to prioritize our values and ensure they are aligned with God’s values. By doing so, we know how to remain strong should any temptations or distractions come upon us.
4. Moses endured –  and lived by faith, not in fear. Moses had every reason to be scared going against the most powerful man during the time, Pharaoh, who was considered a God. However, Moses did not submit to him and chose to follow God in faith.

The above circumstances that Moses went through are not foreign to us. We hear many stories of friends and family members who have gone through similar events today. It is only a matter of time till we ourselves may face similar circumstances and how we respond to them is our responsibility and up to us to decide. However, our strength and knowledge alone is not nearly sufficient to know what is the correct decision to make. We pray that we can seek the guidance of the holy spirit, to lead us, in power us and help us through every decision, just as Moses had been, which can be evidently noted in the above decisions he ultimately made.