Our Lifestyle & Relationship With God

Each individual chooses his or her lifestyle and relationship with God. Too often, people blame their parents or society for their failure to follow the Lord. By the same token, parents sometimes allow themselves to be filled with guilt over their failure to lead their children in ways of righteousness.

The kings of Israel illustrate the fact that our free will determines our righteousness.

As an example, Asa was a righteous king who had a son, Jehosaphat, who followed in his ways (2 Chronicles 15:17; 2 Chronicles 17:1-3). Jehosaphat had a son whose name was Jehoram, who did not follow the ways of his father and was very wicked (2 Chronicles 21:12). Jehoram's son, Ahaziah, was also wicked in God's sight (2 Chronicles 22:3-4).

As we can plainly see from the above accounts, a good king had a good son. A good king had a bad son, and a bad king had a bad son, illustrating the fact that all of us have the God-given ability to choose to either serve God or serve Satan (Joshua 24:14-15).

As we journey through this earthly existence, we need to seriously think about the choices we make and how those choices impact our lifestyle and relationship with God.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets