“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time!
Mark 13:21-23 (NLT)
... They were Jesus' own words - a few among many that bore the truth about the time we live in. We can hear those words and dismiss them, relegate them in our mind to being a prophecy for another time, or understand that they're a serious warning intended to get our attention. They're in fact a warning to spare us harm, to send us into a deeper study of the biblical truth that we can count on and into a deeper relationship with the God who will call us before Himself when this short journey's through. Heeding that warning though, is just one of the choices among many we make.
We can live for now as though tomorrow may not come - latching onto any worldly thing that brings us pleasure in the fleeting moments of this short life and face a tomorrow that'll come without warning. It'll be a day guaranteed to bring more agony than those hollow pleasures ever brought with them, but we can do that - we have that God given freedom. It's the same freedom that Adam and Eve exercised to bring evil into the world by choosing disobedience, and the same freedom that humanity has exercised extensively, seemingly ever since, to continually perpetuate it. It's this freedom that mankind's used to bring about an undulating cloud of horrific events on himself, along with disease and evil that many choose to blame God for. But in truth - in many cases, much of it's due to some individual's own freedom to choose it. We too have that freedom to choose it... or to choose something else...
We can choose to accept and submit to God's sovereignty over us or attempt to reject it - pretending that it doesn't exist, but we have to be consciously aware that "pretending" is the best we can do ... and also the absolute worst at the same time.
We can choose grateful submission to the providence of our Father God, whether it be in grace, accepting discipline or some other profitable increase. This choice honors Him for example - to His great pleasure ... and to our endless benefit.
How our Father in Heaven is perceived - either powerfully and frighteningly fierce, or kindly tender in His passion, is based on the completeness of our knowledge and understanding of the truth ... and our obedient submission to it. It's a choice we can make. Confusion around the portrayal of God may come from the patterned portrayals by some teachers of the bible, but the truth is that He is both fierce and tender. To the rebellious and unrepentant He is terrifying, ... but to the repentant He offers tender mercy and makes a way for their salvation. Either way, He's made it clear that ... the choice is always ours.
The God of creation has extreme power beyond what the human mind can clearly imagine. The extent of His power is something we struggle to understand, but we who know Him know that He creates worlds and entire universes by a word from His mouth. Still, as powerfully sovereign as He is, He gives to us the freedom to make choices. For example, He gave Israel a choice...
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy."
“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy." Deuteronomy 30:15-18 (NLT)
The rest of this passage further exposes His heart - God doesn't hate us, but He DOES despise sin and disobedience. Our surrender to either obedience or disobedience is a choice that we make for ourselves - one that determines much. The responsibility for making the choice between eternal disaster or eternal reward rests on us alone. Father God doesn't choose hell for anyone - they choose it for themselves, but disaster IS NOT what He wants for us! HIS preference is obvious in the rest of the passage...
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
We live under the complete and sovereign authority of the God who created us - there's no question about that. Since we're His creation, we are His property. He has every right to determine not only how we should live, but our end reward for those choices that we've made as well. Simplified, this life is all about choices - ours individually. God's told us everything we need to know, now it's up to us. We can seek out what He's said and choose to be obedient to what He's told us, we can ignore or reject what He's said, or ... we can plug our ears and sit on our hands ... but be forewarned that even that ... is a choice begging His sovereign response.
I started this little writing exercise quoting Jesus' words. They were a warning among many in scripture regarding what would come at the end of days. We can choose to hear them all and respond to Him accordingly or disregard them. Again - it's a choice. Personally, I'm convinced that we're in those last days and that time is very short, so our opportunity to demonstrate our good choices connected to our belief in what God's told us and our faith in Christ (faith w/ works - see James Ch. 2) may be short also. For a follower of Jesus, living in this sin riddled and wayward world can be difficult, but the Apostle Peter gave us some good instruction ... as Father God gave it to him. And remember, he shared this "after" Jesus was raised ...
"So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart."
For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 1 Peter 1:13-23 (NLT)
The Lord's expectations of us, even under the New Covenant, are clear. Now it all comes down to choices - ours ... We know that forgiveness is available, but continued unrepentant choices may speak volumes more than we know ... if the truth be known.
"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)
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