Decisions and choices, everyone needs to make them everyday. Do I want coffee or not? Am I going to turn right or am I going to turn left? Should I stop at a red traffic light, or should I continue right through it? Pretty much all decisions that we can make have a corresponding result, like cause and effect. If you hit a baseball with a bat the ball moves, or if you put a match to a piece of paper it starts on fire. Whatever choice you decide to make you must be prepared to receive the result of.
The decision to follow Jesus and obey His will is a decision that no one can make for you. It is your decision and yours alone. “Will I give my life to the Lord and submit myself to Him, or will I serve my own self and desires?” The choice that you make will determine your result.
Follow me, Jesus said to His disciples. Jesus gave them a choice, to follow Him or not. He didn’t force them to do anything, but He gave them the opportunity to make the decision on their own. Jesus asked others to follow him, but instead of following him they chose to do something different. Other things were more important to them than following in the steps of Christ. But they had had that choice given to them, and whatever result came of their choice was ultimately what they chose.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As Christians our goal is to serve Christ and to point others to Him. We are like a mirror that reflects others to Christ. We cannot save someone from their sins, Jesus does the saving. We cannot grant eternal life, Jesus has the key to immortality. It is a gift that can only come from Him. We can only point others in the direction of Jesus and they need to make the decision to follow Him.
But with each choice that you make comes the result of your decision. I once ate an entire pan full of brownies when I was very young, maybe four or five years old, and the result was that I became very sick from eating too many of them. I could have chosen to eat two or three instead of the entire pan, but I didn’t, and I received the result for my choice. God does not force anyone to obey His commands, but He gives everyone the choice to do what they want. This doesn’t mean that they are exempt from the resulting punishment of their actions if they choose to not obey Him, but if that is going to be their decision then God lets them make that choice.
John 12:25-26 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Remember that when God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden He didn’t forcibly restrain them from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but He did command that they not eat of it. But because they did eat of it they received the punishment in that they began to die. They had the choice to obey God, but they ate of the tree anyway.
I can’t make your decisions for you, I can only show you what the Bible teaches. You can read the Bible from front to back, several times over, but it is what you do with the information that you have read that matters. The decision is then yours. What are you going to do?
In Christ
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 