Joshua 24:15

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15


I think it is interesting that it always comes down to this.  We have to choose between God and... anything else.  Doesn't really matter what else it is.  If it isn't God, then it's always the wrong choice of the two.  And the fact that God allows us the choice, and protects our choices from being taken away from us, shows us the depth of his love for us.  He doesn't want us to be automatons or yes-men pressured into obedience through fear.  He wants us to really find out the truth for ourselves.  To find out what makes us the happiest, to find out what helps people rather than hurts them, to discover for ourselves that we need God.  That we want him in our lives... that hanging out with God is better than any other activity we could have chosen.
God wants us to have that opportunity to be like him.  If we stray and stop and choose something less, then we'll get whatever lesser "reward" that we choose.  But by offering us choice, God allows us the chance to become as he is... if we choose to continue, to progress, to learn more and more until we graduate into that kind of perfection. :)
Today, let's use our power of choice wisely.  Let's remember that our circumstances don't choose for us.  We still have the power to make the choices that we need to make... and no matter how bad things are, we always have the choice to talk to God, and to learn more from him.  Let's exercise that choice, and continue following God's path.