WHICH WAY WILL YOU CHOOSE?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Elihu continued:

“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God’s behalf. I get my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe justice to my Maker. Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.”

“God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty, and firm in His purpose. He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take His eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done—that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.”

“The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He fetters them, they do not cry for help. They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines. But those who suffer He delivers in their suffering; He speaks to them in their affliction.”

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you. Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so you would not be in distress? Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes. Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.”

Job 36:1-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Our church has a new senior pastor and at a meeting recently, he introduced an effective tract we are going to start using titled, “Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face” (Matthias Media). It is very concise in explaining the gospel and, as you can see by the title, boils life down to show us that we really only have two critical choices to make before an Almighty God.

More on that later but as we look at the scripture passage in our devotion from Job, Chapter 36, we read Elihu, the young man addressing Job and his three friends, giving us a precursor of the two choices presented before mankind by God. Look at his words:

“God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty, and firm in His purpose. He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take His eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done—that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.”

Did you pick out the two choices? If so, you really see it is a matter of spiritual wealth or destitution – spiritual happiness or anguish – spiritual life or death.

Indeed, our Almighty God is “firm in His purpose”. He “despises no one” but does command and expect obedience to His word, will, and way. Given this, we can choose to obey Him and see Him as our Ruler and King, receiving His correction with a heartfelt desire to repent and allowing Him to move us toward righteousness – or we can choose to submit our life to sin, arrogantly opting for our own desires and ignoring God’s correction and call to turn from our wickedness. It really comes down to one of these two decisions.

And we should carefully weigh which of the options we choose because both have specific outcomes - outcomes spelled out succinctly in a way that is easily understood in “Two Ways to Live”.

First, what’s the outcome of not choosing a life under God’s rule and electing to live in sin, running and ruling our life the way we want to?

Answer: Condemnation by God and thus facing His judgment and certain death.

There is little doubt that God hates sin. It was sin that led to Him offering His Son Jesus Christ to die as a living sacrifice, bearing the sins of the world on His body as He was nailed to Calvary’s cross so we could be pardoned. There was a deep cost paid for you, me, and all mankind so our sin debt would be covered. God expects us to respect and acknowledge His greatest act of love and deliverance granted to His people and will not take kindly to anyone who takes Him and His Son for granted, rejecting His offer for salvation from the sin affliction through the pardon made possible by His Son, our Savior Jesus. If we reject Him, then we can expect His judgment. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, reminded us of God’s promises from the Book of Deuteronomy:

 “For we know Him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:30-31

Indeed, it is a dreadful thing or, as other translations have described it, a fearful thing (KJV, NKJV), a formidable and terrible thing (Amplified), and a terrifying thing (Good News, HCSB).

I know this isn’t a place I would like to be, at a place where I am facing dread against a formidable God who brings me to a place of paralyzing, terrifying fear as I face judgment at His Almighty Hands and know eternal destruction in hell is my reward for rejecting Him and choosing to run my own life.

How about you? Would you EVER choose this outcome?

Maybe looking at the other possible outcome will make the decision a lot easier. For what will happen if we choose to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, the sacrificed and resurrected Son of God who paid the price for our sins and has been appointed Ruler over us by the Father? What happens when we allow ourselves to adopt the Christian lifestyle, allowing Jesus to rule our lives?

We become forgiven by God and freed from His condemnation (Romans 8:1), entering into the promise of eternal life granted by a God who so loved mankind that He gave His only Son Jesus so we might never ever perish. The death and resurrection of Jesus opened the gates of heaven for you, me, and anyone else who would place in Christ to follow. With this, death is not the end and, instead of hell, we receive the riches of eternity, entering into God’s kingdom as heirs to a part of His great and holy inheritance.

Friends, who wouldn’t want this? And who in their right mind would ever reject eternal peace and joy and love experienced through living life eternally with God the Father and Jesus, His Son?

Yes, in the end translation, it really does come down to two choices.

God’s judgment and condemnation which leads to death and hell - or - God’s forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ which leads to life eternal.

Which way will you choose?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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