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by Joseph Tanchi

I love ads. Everywhere I look I’m bombarded with ads for countries to visit, new places to eat, beautiful clothes to wear, smaller and better phones – every kind of good or service I could ever imagine. They give me so many choices. And oh how I love choices. McDonald’s, Burger King or Carl’s Jr? Beef, chicken or fish? Do you want fries or onion rings with that burger? Do you want to upsize your soda? No pickles and extra tomatoes please!

We all want to have more options and the freedom to choose. This is modern day consumerism. But when it comes to the big things in life like work, do we really have a choice? How often do you find yourself working late hours in the office thinking to yourself ‘I have no choice’ or ‘I had to do it.’ Can you still count the times? I gave up years ago…

But is this the way God intended it to be? In 1 Corinthians 10 it says ‘Everything is permissible’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible – but not everything is constructive. The Bible clearly says we can do whatever we want. BUT – we must be ready for the consequences. Every action has a reaction. You can play with fire, but be ready to get burned. You can choose to eat whatever you want and skip regular exercise, but be prepared for the extra pounds to follow!

So perhaps somewhere along the way, someone forgot to tell me that I did not have to work so hard. Maybe I can choose how I spend my time, and maybe I don’t have to choose to spend it all in the office. Maybe I don’t have to say yes to everyone and every request that comes my way. But then, how do we choose what to say yes and what to say no to?

I believe everything in life boils down to our priorities. A priority is something we give attention to or importance before others. Whether it’s family, friends, work or even the Lord, how we spend our time and effort shows our priorities. You can’t say the Lord is more important to you than work but then devote all your time to work. It doesn’t work that way. We have to make choices. We have to make sacrifices.

In the olden times, a sacrifice involved offering something to a deity or god as an act of worship. When animals or people were killed and burned on an altar – that was a sacrifice. Nowadays though, we treat a sacrifice as something we give up or lose. That’s not necessarily a wrong concept, if we keep in mind that the key here is that a sacrifice is offered as an act of worship. If we give up something as an act of worship, that’s sacrifice.

So whether we’re at work, at home or at play, let us remember that we always have a choice. Let’s get our priorities right and offer to the Lord the sacrifices He deserves. As it says in Romans 12: 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. And if we can offer up our bodies to the Lord as a sacrifice, as an act of worship, I’m sure we can also offer Him anything and everything else in our lives.

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