Is Life Like a Box of Chocolates?

This last weekend I had the opportunity to join a group of men at our church to be involved in the Johnny Hunt Men’s Conference Simulcast. We heard great preaching and were challenged and encouraged by the Word of God.

One of the speakers that we heard was Charles Lowery, a pastor out of New Mexico. Though he was incredibly funny, he drew some great points from Scripture based on his years of pastoring and his years in the field of psychology. One statement he made was that we hear the statement made famous by Forest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

Lowery went on to say how he believes that statement is not true. He thinks it is not true in chocolates, and it is not true in life. When you open a box of chocolates, (side note…men, don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is this Sunday…just trying to keep you out of trouble), you know exactly what you are going to get. Just read the chart on the lid of the box. Most boxes of chocolates have a chart that describes what type of chocolate is in each of the compartments in the box.

If you want a pecan, caramel chocolate, go over three and down two and there you are. Look at the chart, you’ll know the type of chocolate you are going to get.

In life, we can pretty well decipher where certain decisions will get us. Selfish, worldly, self-centered decisions will lead us into places that we really don’t want to end up. Godly, Spirit-led, self-sacrificing decisions will lead us into places that are in God’s will for us. That is a great place to be. Bad choices lead to bad places. Good choices lead to good places. Pretty simple, huh?

God’s Word says it this way:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV).

The truth is straight forward and easy to understand. The type of seed you plant will determine the type of crop you harvest. The type of choices you make will determine the type of life and life experiences you will have.

If you plant “fleshly” seed, you harvest destruction in your life. If you plant godly seed, you harvest godly things, ultimately eternal life.

What kind of choices are you making? What drives your decisions? If you tell me that, I can pretty much tell you what kind of life you are going to have. Galatians says that we can deceive ourselves, but the Law of Sowing and Reaping still applies, even if we convince ourselves that it will never happen to me.

Do you want a good life? Make good choices. Do you want a godly life? Make godly choices.