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Scripture for the day: 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Thought for the day: “There is nothing new under the sun.” I believe it was Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, who first voiced that great truth. If we look through God’s Word, we discover the truth of Solomon’s statement. Take, for instance, the immutable law of choices, which says that once you’ve made a choice for or against anything or anyone, the likelihood of changing that opinion is extremely small, no matter the evidence.
In the book of 1 Samuel, the people approached the great prophet and said, “We’ve made a choice and it is this; we want a king to be set over us.” When asked the reason for this desire, they replied, “Because we want to be like everyone else.” Samuel spent considerable time and energy trying to warn them of the dire consequences of their choice, all to no avail. Their minds were made up and no evidence to the contrary would convince them. You see, when we choose to reject God, for that is what they did (1 Samuel 8:7), we become willing to accept anything other than Him, no matter how terrible the outcome.
Luke’s account of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus is another prime example. He was brought before the people. After being examined by Pilate and Herod both, Pilate stood Him before the people proposed that He be released for lack of evidence. The people cried out, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!” When we choose to reject Jesus, we would rather have a murderer loose among us than to enjoy the security of the presence of the Savior.
John’s Gospel tells the story of the crucifixion in nearly the same manner. The people, in rejecting Jesus, told Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar!” and, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.” When we choose to reject the Christ, we’re saying we’d rather be ruled by the most godless, hateful, person or system the world could ever devise than to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, no matter the evidence to the contrary.
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we find the rich man calling out to Abraham from the midst of the flames of hell, begging him to send Lazarus to warn his brothers of their fate should they continue in their godless pursuits. Abraham answered, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). In other words, evidence doesn’t matter when the mind is already made up. We can see the truth of this in choices mankind has made across the ages. In rejecting Jesus, we have chosen evolution over creation; no amount of evidence to the contrary seems to matter. We have chosen Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Military dictatorships, and every form of government imaginable rather than submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And the list could go on an on, from types of government to the value of a single life.
“Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Listen, “When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.” - C.S. Lewis
Now go take on your world. - Bill