Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Exercising Our God-given Right To Choose Wrong


(Luke 17:41-42) “As he [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”  I am certain that you know people, perhaps people that you care about, who have rejected the “right” to embrace the “wrong”.  As Jesus looked on Jerusalem – He saw a people who yearned for a Savior – relief from the troubles of this life – but rejected the “Way-Truth-and Life” to pursue their own “way and truth and life”.  A way that will only and always lead to sorrow and loss for them.  

That is the thing about free will.  We have the God-given right to choose wrong.  For the sake of discussion, let’s say that I am not referring to your choices, but to someone that you sincerely care about.  That you love.  In spite of what would be best and what would bring joy to their lives, they choose another way.  They want to hear nothing about God or doing what God says is right.  They are bound and determined to go their own way.  And they do.  They “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”  And when that happens – they wonder where God is and why these things keep happening to them.  Someone said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.”  I know it will work this time – true I have 4 failed relationships, but I know that if I find the same kind of person in the same places it will work this time.  Why? Because I have decided that what I am doing is right for me. It’s my choice.

And like the song by George Jones says “Now the race is on. And here comes pride in the back stretch. Heartaches goin' to the inside. My tears are holdin' back They're tryin' not to fall. My hearts out of the runnin'. True love's scratched for another's sake. The race is on and it looks like heartaches And the winner loses all.”  

Oh how we hate to see those poor choices being made because we love the one making them.  Jerusalem rejected the Messiah and so do people today.  Jesus wept and so do we.  Not much has changed.  I was talking to a mother only yesterday and she shared about one of her children and their struggles in life.  We prayed and she wept.  Is there someone in your life who has chosen poorly like that?  The answer is faith in and following Jesus.  CHARLEY  

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