Choosing The Master

I started college as a theater major, and the first semester of school, I landed a part in a play—I was the strawberry blonde love interest in a murder mystery. Little problem: the play had a performance on Sunday. I had been taught all my life that Sunday was a sacred day and not the time for activities that weren’t church or family related. But, I reasoned, one Sunday would be okay. I could even go to church in the morning. Problem solved.

My sister, however, was incredulous and disappointed in my decision. She tried to talk me out of it, but I had made my choice. As I left for my performance that Sunday afternoon, she told me firmly but kindly that I knew better, and she was sorry I had chosen the play over my commitment to worshipping on the Lord’s day.

She was right. My choice signaled to God that the play was more important than He was. I regretted spending that day on the stage, and vowed to not make that mistake again.

Christ taught, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” (NASB Matthew 6:24) My husband likes to point out that we are always choosing—even deciding not to make a decision is a choice.

The power to choose is such a precious gift from God. Our choices, not our circumstances, determine the shape of our lives, and reveal who we are and our allegiances. Who or what will get my attention? How and what will I communicate? Who do I want to become? Followers of Christ choose His way, not another.

As my story demonstrate, though, sometimes I am weak. I want to choose my way, the easy way. C. S. Lewis comments that “we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, [or, I might add, glory on the junior college stage] when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

I need to remember that when I choose Jesus Christ, my life becomes full of richness. The things I leave behind: trends, bad habits, destructive behaviors, are no loss. When I follow Christ’s example, I feel relief and freedom. Think of it--the most powerful being in the universe invites me to become like Him! And as I persist, He even offers to be my personal trainer, listening to my prayers, and whispering guidance throughout my day.

One fascinating thing about choosing Christ as my master is that as I pattern my life after His, somehow I become the best version of myself, the freest me, the happiest me. Becoming swallowed up in Christ opens the world around me and the heavens above me. Not even the sky is the limit. Remarkably, in the divine calculations, one plus one equals far more than two, if one is Christ.

Letting Christ lead gives me light in my darkest hours. I don’t understand all the whys of life, but I can have confidence that we are in His hand and He is in control. He teaches that everything in our fallen world will be made right. He is the master Judge, the Great Healer.

Because I have faith in Christ, life’s difficulties become my blessings or opportunities for growth: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.” Forgive “seventy times seven.” (Matthew 5:9, 44; 18:22.) People like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. have changed minds and nations by applying these principles—and they work to bring peace in my home as well.

But ultimately, the main reason I choose Christ is because despite my best efforts, I am flawed. I need redemption from my sins and the sins in the world around me. I can’t fix my wrongs, but He can. In the final hours of His life, He chose to suffer for me so that I could return to Him. Because He “first loved us,” (1 John 4:19) I can learn to love him, despite the siren songs that tempt me to follow other masters.

So what master will we choose? We decide this every day, every hour, whether we realize it or not. As Neal Maxwell noted, “I testify that what a wise man wrote is true: “If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead.”

And, as Peter so nobly asked in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Kristin Fry is loving the green pop back into her life. Ah! the promise of spring! Kristin is a happy member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.