3.161 To Be or Not To Be

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

It's graduation season here in the United States as of this recording. It's got me reflecting on ends and beginnings and all the graduation-style conversations that you hear at commencement ceremonies. Man, you see this humble guy that is selected by the Lord through his prophet.

You see his rise, and you see his fall. And we're going to see this often. We see it often in the scriptures, but it never takes the pain and the sorrow away.

Perhaps they're in the scriptures for us to be able to see the warning signs, but also the blessings that come from following the Lord. And so, this week as you're reading the story of Saul, take some time to see the power of choice throughout Saul's journey here and what it means for you in your life as well. That's a long introduction.

Let's get to our verse for today in 1 Samuel 9:2, our introduction to Saul. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man and a goodly, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

Okay, so we get this large-statured. He's a big guy, large-statured, but goodly. In fact, no goodlier person existed among the Israelites.

That sounds like someone I want to follow! That's the beginning of Saul's story. In fact, we even see Saul's own opinion of himself further on.

You can kind of see inside that chapter there, verse 21 specifically, Saul saying, 'Like, why are you selecting me? I come from the smallest tribe. I just...

I just a... I just a nobody!' My friends, first of all, the Lord is going to select and see those who have these types of personal attributes and characteristics. But just because you have them doesn't mean you keep them.

Now, how does this connect to graduation a little bit? Graduation, these commencement ceremonies, these opportunities seem to be going from one door closing and a myriad of doors opening. The Bible says that the Lord is the one who is the master of all things.

And letting all the results around your life, just let those results be. Just focus on being the best version of you. But there's a piece of the best version of you I want to add that I think comes, at least gets magnified, in the story of Saul.

The best version of you and the best version of me always, always includes the Lord if we will choose to have him in our lives. The Lord can take the best of us and make us even better. The Lord can take every attribute that is positive in our lives and make it better.

Saul is definitely going to have this journey of his choices. We have them as well. May we continually, regularly, daily, hourly, every moment by moment, choose to be the best version of ourselves with the Lord in our lives.

Is my hope and prayers we go forward today. That is all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope