The Choice

In life, each of us is confronted daily with choices and decisions we must make. Our lives are the sum of all our choices. Yet there is a dividing line that can be readily seen. Today, we each can choose to walk in life or death. The kind of people we are is determined by the ultimate choice we make.

Thousands of years ago mankind was injected with the poison of spiritual death at the fall of Adam. Sin transformed the human race, which had been designed to walk in the nobility of our creator, into beings of darkness. All of this changed with the birth of Jesus Christ. His is the noblest of hearts. He spread the message of love, compassion, and healing not by mere words, but rather by reaching out to the hurting all around him with hands laden with tenderness and love.

He, by his death and resurrection, paid not only the eternal price for sin, that divine justice demanded must be paid; but also opened the door to a holy connection to the life and nature of God. Jesus once said, “ For whatever is in your heart determines what you say."  (Matthew 12:34, NLT) We are defined in this life by the choices we make.

Those who choose to reject the life that Jesus died to freely give us, choose to walk in darkness rather than light. Their hearts and deeds are consumed by an inner drive of selfishness. Sin injects the human heart with the desire or lust that is the predominate characteristic of evil. We see a pattern in all who choose spiritual death over life. Life is to the spiritually dead a treadmill driven by the desire to advance our own agenda.

This takes many forms. Some crave power and influence while others are driven by the pursuit of pleasures in all its forms. Whatever the path taken, the root and core of the path to hell is rooted in the selfish ambition to live our own lives as we please. Life serves no purpose other than to daily live one’s life for one's self.
 
There are others who choose a different course. These are those who long to be free from the damning influences of hell and make the choice of life over death. Jesus offers to every human soul the choice of life or death. We can accept him as Lord and Savior or follow our own path. Those who choose to lay down their lives and follow Jesus are transformed from the inside out. It is a fact I have observed over and over again — the closer we walk with Jesus, the more “other” minded we become.

True followers of Jesus Christ are moved by a very different agenda than the ungodly. They are not immune to the suffering and pain they see all around them, but they are driven by a higher ideal than just the selfish ambitions of power or pleasure. Those who make the choice for life, by laying down their life in service to Jesus Christ, are transformed by a divine connection with him.

The more time we spend in Jesus' presence, the more selfless we become. I would submit to you that a truly selfless person is the greatest threat to evil. All sin, no matter what form it takes, is a deed of selfish desire in one form or another. We must all make the choice for life or death. All of us are either on the road to heaven or hell, and it is not really so hard to discern which path we are on. The life we live from day to day gives mute testimony to who and what we are.

Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10 NLT).

Copyright © 2009 Michael Plemmons. Used by permission.