Joshua 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”

      Another disorder to disrupt the peace in people’s lives is called The Paradox Choice. As described online: Choice overload, also known as over-choice, choice paralysis, or the paradox of choice. This anxiety happens when people get overwhelmed when they are presented with a large number of options to choose from. I ran into this choice paralysis when I was asked to stop in at a particular grocery store to pick up some camomile tea. This big box store had a section in one of the aisles that was seven feet tall and twenty-five feet wide containing many varieties of teas. I could not find the tea I was looking for. I knew what the box looked like in colour and printing style, but I could not see the tea because of the amount of boxes being displayed. I tried to figure out if the teas were alphabetically lined up, or, if they were grouped in types. I was getting that overwhelming feeling of choice overload, so I left the supermarket. On the way home, I stopped at a store that I knew the layout of and where there were only a few choices of tea. Ah-ha, there it was, right in front of me.

      This same dilemma is happening among those who are searching for a life partner or love on numerous dating apps. There are too many choices and people are being left behind because they cannot make up their minds as to who they want to meet or who they feel they can match up with. They are looking for relationships as if they were shopping at a grocery/hardware store. They want someone with a return policy if the product is not as advertised, meanwhile creating a dysfunctional soul. John 4:16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” 

      Years eventually go by, and many find themselves alone wondering about their lost opportunities and the time wasted on the never-ending dating sites. With regret, as the result of choice paralysis controlling their hearts, they got older and realized they might have been looking for the impossibly perfect, beautiful, flawless and oh yeah – rich love mate that would fulfill every need. Of course, no one meets that criteria, and had they known they would end up alone for the rest of their lives, they might have been more open to the reality of genuine life choices.” Deut. 30:15 “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, 19 Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

     Now God, our creator, on the other hand, has created an incalculable abundance of variety to choose from. God’s bountifulness of endless choices is ours for the taking. We are encouraged by God to enjoy the continual lavishness of God’s creation that was given to us. We can learn, partake, and enter into what God has provided and it has no anxiety that comes with all that He gives us. Even though God has given us countless choices to live a life of richness in Him, there is no grief with God’s provision. There may be a billion things of blessings to choose from, but if we let the Holy Spirit guide us, then what we choose, will give us life. 

      The Lord’s variety of choices does not confound the heart and mind the way the world’s offerings do. Prov. 10:22 The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it. I think the difference-maker is that when God created man and all the fullness of the world for him, and when He pronounced that His work was very good, this is what makes all of God’s gifts bring life to a soul. Gen. 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. This statement “It was very good” was a statement of faith from God, and that made the billions and trillions of things in creation holy and clean compared to man’s offerings and statements of “This will make lots of money and people will get hooked.” The difference is clear.

     Complications arise when the sensuality of men’s hearts makes too many ungodly choices. Then the resulting corruption tries to take control of God’s goodness, resulting in anxiety within the hearts of men. The Lord’s gifts of blessings are to be enjoyed through His Spirit. God gave mankind dominion and authority over the earth so that we would steward the earth and become fulfilled while learning to work with the Lord. However, man betrayed this trust and responsibility when he sinned and the result was that man handed his authority and the operation of the earth over to Satan. We can see how that move has worked out because the earth has been a hellish warzone ever since. Rom. 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

      There is only one place where God does not offer a variety of choices, and that is where His salvation plan is concerned. I love the fact that God gives us one choice to have our relationship restored with Him, and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Mankind will offer every imaginable salvation plan, and those results are the same as the dating apps. Too many choices of ill-favoured candidates or in this case, belief systems, resulting in a syncretic mishmash of anything-goes-religion. Even though the word expressly states that there is no other name under heaven but Jesus to become born again, the worldly offerings of salvation keep coming at us continuously. Acts 4:11 Jesus is “’the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Through Jesus, we can take control of our stewardship again, and make righteous choices that will bring health to our souls.

      I believe we can overcome the anxiety of choice paralysis when it comes to accepting Jesus, as our Lord and Saviour. We too, must make a declaration of faith as Joshua declared, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua had observed the events going on around him and made a declaration of faith that was needed for his life and his family. Josh. 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” Like us today, Joshua could see the mess the people were going through because of their too many godless choices. When it comes to sin, there are many choices to choose from. When it comes to restoration and salvation in God, there is only one choice – Jesus Christ the Lord.