You Are the Choices You Make

As an adult, you are responsible for yourself.

You—and you alone—are responsible for the choices you make, no matter what is happening in your life. No matter what hardships, pain, temptations, or challenges confront you, you still have a choice.

You can face them quietly, with strength.

You do not have to react immediately. You do not have to become impatient, yell, scream, fight, drink, use drugs, or make decisions that drag you deeper into hell.

Because hell is a dark hole with no bottom.

Every emotional overreaction pulls you further into it. It makes the situation worse, damages the people around you, and gives darkness greater control over your life.

Sit in the pain.

Do not rush to respond. Do not obey every thought that enters your mind. Do not listen to the darkness telling you to blame the world. Do not listen when it tells you to hate or condemn yourself.

The problem is never truly out there.

And the problem is not who you truly are.

The problem is within you—but it is not of you.

The battle is spiritual.

It is not merely physical. It is not ultimately against another person, political party, race, institution, or circumstance. The real battle is taking place within your heart.

Scripture tells us:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”

The battle is between surrendering to the light of God, or surrendering yourself to darkness.

The world has taught you wrongly.

Your parents may have taught you wrongly. Your teachers, therapists, religious leaders, politicians, influencers, and other so-called experts have taught you to blame everything outside yourself.

They taught you to blame your childhood.

Blame society.

Blame your family.

Blame the government.

Blame another race.

Blame the rich.

Blame the poor.

Blame the man.

But they rarely taught you to become still and look within.

They rarely, if ever, taught you to see the anger, fear, resentment, pride, impatience, and imagination that are guiding your reactions and producing destructive choices.

The world is wrong.

God said:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

Christ warned that the road to destruction is wide, while the path to life is narrow—and few find it.

The narrow path is not easy.

Especially in the beginning.

Darkness pulls hard. Evil speaks through thoughts, emotions, memories, accusations, fears, and imagined futures. It tells you that you must react. It tells you that you must defend yourself. It tells you that somebody must pay.

But you do not have to obey it.

Resist the thoughts of darkness.

Do not fight them with more thoughts. Do not argue with them. Simply become still and see them for what they are.

See the anger.

See the resentment.

See the fear.

See the temptation.

See the urge to blame.

See that these thoughts want to lead you deeper into the hell of your own imagination.

Your responsibility is to see the darkness.

God’s responsibility is to fight the battle.

As you continue acknowledging what is within you without identifying with it, the light of God begins to expose what was hidden. You begin to see that you are not your anger. You are not your fear. You are not your resentment. You are not every thought passing through your mind.

The darkness may be in you, but it does not have to rule you.

Very often, to reach heaven, we must first walk through hell.

We must become still enough to see it.

We must stop running.

Stop blaming.

Stop reacting.

Stop trying to save ourselves through anger, substances, revenge, validation, or control.

Your job is to see.

God’s job is to deliver you.

Let Him fight the battle.

Let Him pull you out of the darkness.

Let Him free you from the hell of your imagination.

Choose stillness.

Choose responsibility.

Choose the narrow path.

Choose light.

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Created by Eric Forth
Faith. Family. Order. Truth

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Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or licensed medical professional. Content on this site is for informational and personal growth purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.o