OUR DECISION ALONE

Word from the Bible for Today

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you.

• Psalm 63:1 (NIV®)

REFLECTION

“Sometimes I bring donuts to the office on Friday. I stopped in recently to get my usual order of three dozen donuts, and who should walk in but a man I often see in the gym. If we’re both in the donut shop, you might think, who’s going to throw the first stone? But then came the awkward moment when I sheepishly admitted I had skipped my work out that morning, and he replied that he had not skipped his. “Everyone has to make their own decisions,” he said. He was right, of course, and the same is true of our faith. Just as another person’s decision to exercise doesn’t count for me, another person’s decision to seek God and pursue a life of faith doesn’t count for me. Many people live with the hope that the faith of their family members or friends will somehow be counted as righteousness for themselves, but that’s a false hope. One person’s faith can, and often will, influence another person’s faith. But in the end, the decisions about our relationship with Jesus are our own to make.”

• Allen Jackson