Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.  James 1:12 HCSB

Forrest Gump said, “Mama always said: ‘Life is like a bunch of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

I think most of us would agree with this statement. We never know what our future holds, but we do know who holds the future.

Have you ever gotten an assorted box of chocolates and opened each one to be sure it was one you liked before biting into it? Have you discarded the ones you didn’t like or did you put them back thinking someone else may eat them?

We do this with some things in life as well. We tend to befriend and congregate with those we like and those who are likeminded. We tend to eat the foods we like. We attend the churches we like. We watch the movies we like and so on and so forth.

We can sometimes discard what we don’t like or avoid it in our lives. But some things cannot be discarded. They come our way and we have to go through them.

But what about when it comes to sexual immorality and evil behavior? What about bitterness and unforgiveness? Do we discard that or do we hang on to it? Does it taste sweet at first, maybe too sweet to let go? We are told in Ephesians 4:31-32 that there are a number of things we must discard from our lives as Christians. These things include bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice. We are told to hold on to the good things like being kind to one another, tenderhearted to one another, and forgiving one another as Christ forgives us.

My husband and I both like Millionaires or some people call them Turtles. These are the little caramel and pecan clusters that are covered in chocolate. You can’t go wrong with that. My husband also really likes Reese cups. So if we do buy each other a box of chocolate, we get a box filled with the kind of candy we know the other likes. We don’t buy assorted chocolates.

With life, though, we don’t always have that choice. We get an assortment. We get an assortment of chores, some that we like and some that we don’t. We get an assortment of people, some that we really like and some not as much. Our days and the seasons of our lives are also an assortment. We get some that are good and filled with laughter and some that are sad and filled with tears.

If we don’t put God first in our lives, we end up poking our fingers in the chocolates hoping to get one that we like. We go through life riding the emotional roller coaster up and down. Holding on to good times as best we can and hoping that the bad times won’t last too long.

But, when we put God first even those times that don’t go as we had hoped are times that God’s got our back. These are times when we learn to trust Him more. These are times when we learn that we can give our troubles over to Him and allow Him to take care of us. We may even learn to be still (Psalm 46:10). We may learn that He fights for us, we only need to position ourselves, stand still and see His deliverance (2 Chronicles 20:17).

We have no idea what our future holds. Wouldn’t it make more sense to trust our future to the One who holds it in His hand?

Without God in our lives, it’s like having a box of assorted chocolates, not being sure what is hiding beneath each chocolate shell. But, when we give our lives over to Christ, we know that He is taking good care of us.

This doesn’t mean that things will always go our way. On the contrary, we know that we will go through trials and tribulations. What it means is that we won’t go through them alone. We will go through them with our Lord and Savior protecting us all the way. We will go through them with the confidence of knowing that He fights for us and we need only be still (2 Chronicles 20:17) and watch God’s deliverance.

We know if we love Him and live our lives according to His purpose, no matter what happens, He will work it out for our good (Romans 8:28).  He can take those chocolates that we are not so fond of and turn them into our favorites if we will only trust in Him.

Have a great day!