by David Brenneman
"So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”" Matthew 27:17.
Indecision is a decision. This thought sums up the choice Pontius Pilate made when he encountered Jesus Christ. Pilate
believed he could postpone his decision about Jesus, but he was wrong because every action he took led to a choice, even though he sought to avoid one.
When Jesus came before Pilate, the Roman governor of that distant outpost, He discovered a man who was torn. Even Pilate's wife added to his confusion, warning her husband to "have nothing to do with that just Man" after having a dream about Him (Matthew 27:19). Pilate and Herod debated, and neither could find any wrong in Him. Yet the throng clamored for the release of Barabbas, so the expedient political decision was to send Jesus to His death.
We all come to a point when we have to make a decision about Jesus. We must accept Him as our Savior, or we reject Him. Once we take Him as our Savior, we must choose to enthrone Him as our Lord, If we think we can postpone and not decide, we have decided already. - Dr. David Jeremiah Walking with God.
Your choices are always before you.
Not deciding on a course of action is still making a decision. It really is a one or the other situation.
We can go through our entire life without choosing to accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior thinking we will just "get religion" before we die...and will have chosen to reject Him regardless. There is no religion to get with regards to a life in Christ. There's a personal relationship in which we truly begin to live for the first time in our lives that comes when He comes to live in us through His Spirit.
Read well this word from Jesus.
"And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you." Luke 12:16-31.
You have absolutely no idea how quickly your life will be required of you.
I personally know of a friend who's husband merely stood up to cross a kitchen floor and fell flat on his face dead. Zero warnings of any kind and no way to resuscitate. In a split second their final decision was set in stone.
You play with your eternity as if it weren't something worth your time to consider and you will have chosen to spend it in eternal torment. Pain on a scale you could never imagine in a million years.
And it will get worse even from Hell's perspective. There's a day fixed by the Father's own authority when all who have lived will stand before Jesus. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Those who rejected the free gift of salvation will indeed get a glorified new body but then will be cast into the lake of fire for all of eternity.
Again take not my word for it.
Read what Jesus said.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:16-21.
You always have a free gift from God given towards you for the express purpose of giving you the opportunity to choose wisely. It's that very breath you are breathing.
While there's been countless millions who think they chose to end their lives, the truth is God permitted their final choice to stand. We can't choose to not breathe if we are choosing to live.
Coming to Christ isn't what the enemy of God wants people to believe. It's not about giving up the best of living for something less than second rate. The truth is it's our giving up what's been less than second rate for the absolute best that's available only in a life in Christ.
Satan's only aim is to kill and destroy. Jesus's is to seek and save the lost.
But what's involved with a right decision that leads to a right relationship with Jesus? Read on.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13.
You are already making a choice.
Whether or not your current choice stands is up to you if you haven't chosen the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. Once you do choose His free gift of salvation you cannot lose it. It's entirely founded on the work that Jesus did. His work on the cross is entirely complete. We receive His Spirit and are given the opportunity for a new life that will be beyond all that we can ask or think about.
Just remember my Dear Reader...not choosing is still choosing. You're not going to understand the things of God without the requirement of a real right relationship with Jesus. It's going to remain foolishness to all who have chosen to reject it.
Everyone in Hell has no doubts as to why they are there suffering. They undoubtedly disagree with God over it but they are fully aware they choose to reject Jesus.
All in this world as yet can choose life. A life that will only really be seen when we choose correctly.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
La Habra, CA All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment