Joshua 24.15
“Choose this day whom you will serve … As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Here is the second component of the R Factor mindset:
2) Your Response is your choice.
- The way you Manage the R is one of your most important resources. God has given you the ability to think and make decisions, and your decisions have consequences. As it says in the Corinthians passage above, “in your thinking be mature.”
- Circumstances don’t make or break you, they reveal you. 1 Peter 4.12 admonishes us … “don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you as though something strange were happening to you.”
- You are responsible for your decisions and your behavior. Difficult events may influence you to think and behave a certain way, but those events do not choose for you. Take ownership of all your choices and actions, regardless of circumstance. This is the message of the entire book of Proverbs.
- Do not blame other people. Do not complain about circumstances. Do not defend self. No BCD. “Do all things without grumbling or complaining.” (Philippians 2.14)
- You are responsible for how you respond to events you do not control.
- You always have options. Do not equate having to make a difficult choice with not having any choice. You always have a choice. Always.
Think of how many times in biblical history people were confronted with the need to respond to situations. Those who responded in faith and obedience to God were blessed. Those who responded poorly experienced negative, and sometimes tragic, consequences. Those who learned from their responses grew stronger. Those who did not learn grew weaker.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30.19-20)
