Life is not about making the right choices, but making the choices right.
This quote came to me during my morning devotions recently, after prayerfully pondering the different decisions that I have made in my lifetime, and realizing that the decisions that I made were often less important than how I lived after I made them.
We all make countless choices every day, often in haste and without all the information we need, and always without knowing what the future holds. When life gets bumpy, we can often wonder whether we made the wrong choice that led us there. But the truth is that life is more about how we live with those choices than how we made them in the first place, and whether or not we made the right choices.
There are exceptions, of course. We can certainly make a wrong choice, and the choices we make definitely have consequences. But once a choice is made, it is much more productive to do everything we can to make sure this turns out to be the right choice than to waste time wondering whether we made the right choice or not. In general, I believe that life is less about making the right choices than it is about making the choices right, by living faithfully with the choices we have made, step by step and day be day, to the glory of God. Make a choice in faith, and then make the choice right, trusting in these promises from scripture:
[God] chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Ephesians 1:4-5
We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
My Pastoral Ponderings 
Thanks, James, for these words. How many people become paralyzed over what decision to make, especially Christians who are seeking God’s will? I have come to believe that often there is no perfect God-ordained choice but rather options we can choose from and then live with as faithfully as we can. Though like you said, we can still make poor and even wrong decisions but even then we have to learn to live well while facing the consequences,
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Yes, so true, Derek. We all have options we can choose from, and then our call is (as always) to live faithfully. Thanks for the comment, and blessings to you.
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Great wisdom. Thank you!
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Happy to share it, and thanks for the comment!
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Continually amazes me, and fills me with joy every time I read the words: ‘chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world’.
Thanks ⚘🤗
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It is amazing, isn’t it? I often tell our confirmation students that we are helping them get ready to say “Yes!” to the God who has already said “Yes!” to them – chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world! Thanks be to God!
Blessings to you this day.
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Hallelujah and Amen Sally and James!!
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Amen. It’s a pleasure to read your meditations, and an encouragement to continue to do all for the glory of God. As a high school English teacher, it’s an important reminder that my calling at this time is to live “faithfully with the choices [I] have made, step by step and day be day, to the glory of God,” as you so aptly put it.
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A high school English teacher of mine was an important influence in my life, over thirty years ago now. Blessings to you in your calling.
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Excellent post! I love the turned around perspective of the quote.
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Thank you 😊
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