Every day we make choices. We choose to go to work or skip out for personal comfort. We choose what we eat, where we go, and what we say. You may be reading this and thinking, “I don’t have a choice; I have to go to work, or school, or whatever else is going on today.” Yet in every situation you still choose. If it is something we don’t want to do, we weigh the consequences before deciding. But the choice is still ours. Our lives are full of situations where we make choices all day long. Some have few consequences, while others have life-changing consequences.
In Hebrews 11:25, Moses made a choice that would change Israel’s history forever. It would cost him a life of luxury and ease. God chose Moses for the task. Before Moses was born, God had a plan to save His people. Moses’ life would be spared as his mother put him in a basket in the Nile River. He would be rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as her own. He had never known hardship until he chose to reject a life of luxury to follow God’s commands.
His people, the Israelites, were oppressed slaves in Egypt. Yet, they were the descendants of Abraham. They were God’s chosen people. They had come to Egypt when Joseph was a leader under Pharaoh. They came as welcomed guests. Everything was great for many years until a new king came on the scene who did not know Joseph. By this time, the Israelites were a vast majority of the country. No longer were they welcome guests; now they were slaves to the desires of the Egyptians.
As a grown man, Moses saw how his people were mistreated, and he knew that if he identified with them, he would face trials. If he chose to deliver them, he would suffer great hardship. Yet, in Hebrews 11:25, we see he chose to suffer with God’s people rather than live in the palace where he had spent his whole life. He knew what he would be giving up. He knew life would change completely, but after weighing the cost, he chose to obey God.
Hebrews 11:25 “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
We are no different from the saints of the past. We too must make choices every day. Will we choose to suffer ridicule and lack of income when asked to participate in something at work that we know is wrong? Will we just ignore it, complain when we get home, but endure it at work because we fear what might happen if we speak up?
We, like the Israelites, are welcomed guests at work, in the neighborhood, and at our family gatherings at first. At first, we are seen as different and respected. No one offers us an alcoholic beverage or curses in our presence. After a few weeks or months, things begin to change. We become friends with people who seem to have our backs. What they are doing slowly seems ok. We accept certain things that we use to call sin, but after being around it, we find that it’s pretty harmless. Now we are entering the phase of compromise and comfort. We choose to stay instead of walking away when the dirty jokes are told; we choose not to suffer. We make excuses and even convince ourselves that God understands. We may even convince ourselves that we must be like them to win them. All of these excuses are lies we buy from the devil to live a comfortable life. The welcomed guest is now a slave to his own desires of the flesh.
When this happens, we have failed our faith, our God, and those whom God has placed in our path for us to witness to. One of our biggest failures is our failure to see the purpose in suffering for Christ. It is not to destroy our faith, but to strengthen it. In Revelation 2:10, Jesus is speaking to the church in Smyrna. He tells them not to fear suffering but to be faithful unto death, and we will receive a crown of life. We must hold firm in our faithfulness to God. We must examine our lives to see where we take the comfortable route rather than the hard, and sometimes painful, route for Christ.
Revelation 2:10 “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Do not choose the immediate comfort. Stand firm and make a difference for Christ’s sake. If Moses had stayed the course in the house of Pharaoh, he might have been king one day. Some would argue he could have made a difference for his people, but the cost would have been greater as he disobeyed God. God’s people would have become just like the Egyptians who were worshiping false gods. Had Moses not taken a stand and followed it through, an entire nation would have been lost to a lifestyle of false gods, and their souls would have been eternally lost.
This is my prayer. Lord, help me to never back down from the truth. Guide my words and thoughts so that I will stand boldly for you. May I never compromise for the sake of comfort. Help me to be different so that others can see you.
