Do you remember the commercial that “choosy mothers choose JIF?” Choices – we make them every day. We choose what we’re going to wear, what we’re going to eat, and what we’re going to do with our time. We are told to “choose joy, choose peace, and choose kindness.” They all seem to be pretty good choices. God has given His children the freedom to choose how they will live. In Joshua’s final words to his family, he exhorted them to “choose you this day whom ye will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). We know that the rich young ruler “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:22), after Jesus told him what he needed to do. After His “bread of life” sermon, “from that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (John 6:66). Yes, we can choose to follow God’s Word or not.
God, on the other hand, did not give Himself that same choice. He did not choose that one person will go to heaven and one will be sent to hell. No, Christ “died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for thee, and rose again” (II Corinthians 5:15). God did not choose the “person.” He chose the “plan,” and every one, no matter what color, shape, or size, who follows His plan will be saved. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) He gave everyone the same opportunity.
As a Christian, are you following Christ’s example? Do you treat all as one race – the human race? When Paul was teaching in the city of Athens on Mars Hill, he passionately told them that the “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshiped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood, all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. . .” (Acts 17:24-26) Have you chosen to follow the Lord?
May God’s richest blessings be upon you, for we are all simply blessed. Courtney