You and I are impacted by the choices we make and by the choices we have made. This simple truth is so important that I teach on how we are Cursed by Our Choices. The choices we make can reverberate through our entire life.

Let me explain a simple example. Imagine a child who is bullied at school each day. At first he complains to his parents and teachers, but he soon realises that they are not able to resolve the problem and they want him to somehow get on with life without their help. As the problem persists the child will eventually be forced to make a choice. And that choice may well curse them for the rest of their life.

You see, what we choose to do in response to a problem is far more significant than the initiating problem itself. Now, that statement flies in the face of pop-psychology and our cultural mindset today. But before you write me off take a few moments to think the issue through, and to see what the Bible has to say on the subject. Follow me a bit further and see if the scenario I am about to describe for you isn’t pretty close to what often happens.

Let me assume that the boy gets fed up with being bullied and decides to be ready for the bully, to go after him and to try his hardest to make the bully feel some pain. The boy has chosen to ‘fight’! He may not be good at it at first, but as he flails his arms and does his best to inflict pain he is coming under a curse for the choice he has made. It is highly likely that in the decades that ensue he will find himself responding to pressure situations with a strong impulse to lash out.

Alternatively let me assume the boy decides to being a crying, whining sulk. He may decide to lie on the dirt, crying until some authority figure comes along and takes some responsbility for him and his situation. Once he has made that his choice he will likely spend the rest of his life under its power. When he is under pressure he will tend to head into self-pity and seek a welfare solution, where others take responsibility for him.

Yet again, what if he chose to become hyper-protective, distrusting and cagey, to ensure that no-one hurts him again? This too will lead to a curse. For the rest of his life, especially under pressure, he will slip into a self-protective mode of behaviour.

Many people today, maybe you included, are living out patterns of behaviour they chose when they were in primary school. They are still Cursed by their Choices! Now, if it’s true in life it should be accounted for in the Bible. So let me show you a verse from the Bible which says that how we respond is more important than the stimuli that prompted that response.

Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart diligently, because the issues of life come out of it“. Note that the issues of life are not how you are treated, what people said to you, who neglected or abused you, or how deprived your childhood was. The issues of life come OUT  of you, not into you. They come from within you. They come out of your heart. (Oops – I’m back on the heart again, aren’t I?)

When you make a choice about how you will respond, even unconsciously, you bring a curse on yourself. The issue is not who did what to you, but what came out of your heart in response. Keep this in mind, because I’m sure to want to chew on this point with you further in time.