It’s easy to point fingers and find excuses when things go wrong. We often look outward, searching for reasons and justifications for our shortcomings. But at some point, the journey of self-reflection leads us back to the one person who truly holds the key to change: ourselves. In that moment, the harsh truth becomes clear.

I stand before you with fifty-three years of experience, choices, mistakes, successes and failures. Everything that I am is the result of my choices. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all from the choices I have made across my lifespan. I cannot deny, excuse, or blame others or situations. My life is the accumulation of my choices.

1. You are who you have chosen to be
2. You are the spouse you've chosen to be
3. You are the parent you've chosen to be
4. You are the follower you've chosen to be

Life is simply broke down by the choices you've made. Even when life has been cruel and we have been dealt a bad hand the choices we make determine who we become. I was asked the question, "What have I learned about myself this past year?" As I pondered that question I thought about how easy it is to be the opposite of what Jesus would be.

1. Jesus choose love over hatefulness
2. Jesus choose kindness over harshness
3. Jesus choose forgiveness or bitterness

There are two thoughts that control the way people think.You'll discover this when something does not go your way or someone does something to you that deeply hurts or offends you. You'll find yourself intentionally or unintentionally pondering these choices:

1. Life is about my happiness
2. Since life is about my happiness, God will not judge me for my choices if
they make me happy

Jesus wants to help us with our decisions. He shares His point of view in Matthew 5:41. It is this verse that Charles Spurgeon said should be preached often in every church. It is the message of the second mile Christian.

This verse touched a nerve with the Jewish people, because Rome had adopted an old Persian law that anyone who was on the king’s business could ask a person to carry their bags for a mile. When Rome became the world power they took this Persian law and upped the ante In fact, when a Roman soldier was on Caesar’s business he could ask a person to carry his bag for one mile, put it down and ask for another mile. There was no limits as long as the bags were put down every mile. This could end up taking a person from one side of the Roman Empire to the other. Actuality they could tare families apart and they would possibly never see each other again based on this one law. This law was one of the things the Jews assumed Jesus came to set them free from.

What Jesus would said blew their minds. The Jews hated that law, and now Jesus Christ is adding to it by asking them to go the extra mile. Jesus was not giving the second mile sermon to irritate and frustrate the Jews. He was teaching a principle that God knew we could apply to our decision making. Can you see how going the second mile can help us to make decisions that are closer linked with Jesus?

1. Choose to love the unlovable
2. Choose to be kind to the harsh
3. Choose to forgive the unimaginable

Jesus wasn’t interested in freeing the people from Rome; He was interested in freeing them from sin and helping them make choices that determine character.

Here in a few days we will be leaving 2025 and entering the New Year of 2026. Many assume wrongly that their lives will have a fresh start in the New Year. Yes, we start fresh January 1, 2026, but that does not mean the problems of 2025 disappear.

1. Debts will continue to roll over
2. Weight will roll over
3. Problems will roll over

Matthew 5:41 reminds us that our choices determine our character, and our character reveals who we truly follow. The question as we enter a new year isn’t, “What do I want?”It’s, “What would Jesus choose—and will I go the second mile?”