The first key that all believers receive is the key to choose. Oh yes, that’s Deut. 30:19, but there are others too.

Deut. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.

Deut. 28:1 IF YOU will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

Josh. 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Prov. 1:28 Then will they call upon me [Wisdom] but I will not answer; they will seek me early and diligently but they will not find me.

Prov. 1:29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord.

1Cor. 8:9 Only be careful that this power of choice (this permission and liberty to do as you please) which is yours, does not [somehow] become a hindrance (cause of stumbling) to the weak or overscrupulous [giving them an impulse to sin].

Luke 12:57 And why do you not judge what is just and personally decide what is right?

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John replied to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must decide (judge).

Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

God’s Word (His Blood Covenant) with humankind is one in which we get to decide. God wants us to choose His ways. He wants us to live in His freedom and His love, but we have to choose to do that. God cannot choose for us. Of course He is the Mighty King, Master of Everything, but at the same time, He has made an agreement with us that allows us (requires us) to choose. I love the wording in Josh, 24:15, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

We can never say in all honest that “The Devil made me do it.” Likewise, we can never say in all honesty that “God made me do it.” We can only say, “I chose to do it.” And it is in the choosing that all eternity hangs. We can choose God, or we can choose other gods.

Jesus didn’t come to make people obey God. Jesus didn’t come to judge the world. Immediately after Jesus tells Nicodemus what has become the best know verse in the Bible (John 3:16), He goes on to say, For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him (John 3:17). Jesus came to bring salvation and make us safe and sound by our trust in Him (John 10:10, 16:33). But we still have to choose. And once we are in God’s Kingdom, we still have to choose. Everything, and that means everything, that we do is our choice. Of course, God wants us to do things His way because that is the way to fullness of life and eternal blessings.

So the PRIME KEY, the Numero Uno Key, the Overarching Key, the Key Upon Which All Else is Based, the Key That Unlock Heaven’s Gates, the Key to All The Other Keys is the CHOOSE KEY.

And how do we know what to choose? We’ve been given the Book Of Choices, otherwise known as the Bible. It’s our guidebook to choosing. It is the revelation of restoration through redemption, and it’s filled with keys that allow us to operate the way God designed us to operate. But still, we have to choose to read the guidebook, we have to choose to study and show that we are eager workmen, ready and able to divide the word of Truth (2Tim. 2:15), then we have to choose to obey God’s directives and outlined in His Book of Choices. We have to choose to …. All the choices are ours, not God’s. If He could make all the choice for us, don’t you think that He would? If He could choose, everyone would immediately be saved and live a pure and righteous life. That’s what He wants. But He has allowed us to choose.

I say all this to point out that since the choice is ours, it behooves us to know what we are choosing, either consciously or by default. Personally, I don’t like the default mode because it’s the mode of ignorance, and that usually means it’s the mode of the wrong decision. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8-9). And when we operate in default mode, we are operating in “human mode,” and that is not “God mode.”

We MUST CHOOSE to learn God’s thought and learn God’s ways so that we can choose to use God’s thought and live in His ways. Decide today to do just that.

“Father, I want to live my life in such a way that it always brings honor and glory to You. I want to think Your thoughts and do things Your way. I know that in order to do this, I must know Your Word. I give You praise and thanksgiving for Your Word, and I ask that this year, as we study the Keys to the Kingdom, that You will personally help me to learn so that I may think Your thoughts and live Your way. In Jesus name I ask this, Most Gracious King. Amen and Amen.”