Hobson's Choice

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23 ESV).

A Hobson’s Choice is a situation that forces a person to accept whatever is offered or go without. Sixteenth century entrepreneur Thomas Hobson, who hired out horses in strict rotation at Cambridge University, inspired the phrase. There was no choosing by the customer; it was strictly “Hobson’s choice.” Comic strip satirist Garry Trudeau, who writes Doonesbury, tells the following story about his doctor father:

A man once turned up in my father’s office complaining of an ulcer. My father asked the pertinent question. Was there some undue stress, he inquired, that might be causing the man to digest his stomach? The patient, who was married, thought about it for a moment and then allowed that he had a girlfriend in Syracuse, and that twice a week he’d been driving an old pickup truck down to see her. Since the truck frequently broke down, he was often late in getting home, and he had to devise fabulous stories to tell his wife. My father, compassionately but sternly, told the man he had to make a hard decision about his personal priorities if he was ever to get well. The patient nodded and went away. Six months later he came back completely cured and a new man. My father congratulated him and then delicately inquired if he’d made some changes in his life. The man replied, “Yup. Got me a new pickup!”

Life for the follower of Christ is not a Hobson’s choice. We do have a choice in the actions we adopt and follow in our life. We are not mechanical beings controlled by God. Through the free gift of God in Christ, we have been set free to make a choice for a godly lifestyle. Today, in all that you do, choose life. In your choices today, be wise and choose according to the things that are full of His Spirit. In your dealings with others, practice grace and forgiveness. React in love and humility toward others. Be honest and kind in each encounter you have today.