Sermon Illustrations: Choices

The early church was constantly faced with choices of loyalty, either to Christ or to worldly expectations. If a stonemason was offered a job to build a pagan temple, or if a goldsmith was asked to fashion an idol, what were they to do? Tertullian, a Christian author who died around 240 A.D., was once approached by a Christian because of a decision he had to make. “What can I do?” the man asked. “I must live!” Tertullian replied, “Must you?”

Flotsam and jetsam are commonly used terms used to describe the wreckage and debris that floats in the water after a shipwreck. What isn't so well known is that there is a difference between flotsam" and jetsam. Flotsam is anything that ends up in the water resulting from the shipwreck, whether it's pieces of the boat or even some of the cargo. Nobody had any control over it; it's there as a result of the shipwreck. But jetsam is different altogether. Jetsam refers to the cargo and other items purposely jettisoned from the ship to help stabilise it and hopefully to save it from shipwreck. In other words, ejecting the jetsam can often save the possibility of a complete wreck and the resulting flotsam. Life is similar. We often have to make choices to eject things from our lives that we may prefer to hold onto in order to prevent a much worse disaster.

When you choose the behaviour, you choose the consequences. Dr Phil McGraw

Sometimes the choice is not between the good and the bad, it's between the better and the best.

Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd. William Wordsworth