Choosing Christ
STARTING POINT:
God is working, and
we are too. We are not robots who are programmed. We are not
animals who operate out of instinct. We have eaten the forbidden
fruit, and therefore we have knowledge of good and evil. In that, we
have choice, and with our choice comes consequences. In our sin we
are culpable. All the while God is in charge.
Heaven is being with
God. Hell is being against God. The only middle ground is now, when
we set up our eternity. But is it really our choice?
THE PROBLEM OF FREE WILL:
Until we live in
Christ, we don’t have any choice, except to sin. It’s all we can
do and it’s the best we can offer – filthy rags (Isaiah
64:6). Functionally, ultimately, the only real choice we have is
to accept Christ’s calling or not.*
The rest is just details (James
2:10). So, if all I can do is live for myself, how can I, how
can anybody, ever come to love the Lord (Romans
10:14)?
THE ANSWER TO FREE WILL:
If it’s all about
me, then free will is not a problem at all. But if it’s about God,
that shifts things.
THE PROBLEM OF PREDESTINATION:
The doctrine of
predestination does not belong to Calvin; it belongs to God. It says
that God calls certain people to Himself, while not calling others.
So, yes, people are created to suffer, die, and be judged – a
minority are judged on the merits of Christ, while the majority are
judged on the merits of themselves.
If God is calling
only certain people to Him and not others – if He is creating
people for the express purpose of eternal misery, after less than 120
years of struggle – isn’t that a problem? Shouldn’t we be
given a choice; a way out (2
Peter 3:9)?
THE ANSWER TO PREDESTINATION:
Yes. And He does.
THE PROBLEM OF HELL:
But some people want
to be in heaven without wanting to be with God – they want the gift
without the Giver. They don’t understand that God is joy – that
heaven and God are inseparable. They don’t understand that without
God there is no joy – that sin and hell are inseparable.
Death angers God
(John
11:30-38). Jesus died to kill death.**
With His resurrection, Jesus reigns over death. In our own death,
we will meet God. In doing so, we will either meet the One we love
or we will meet the One we fight. We are
responsible for our own eternity, in that sense.
THE RESPONSE:
Those who are with
God – with faith and repentance – also understand that they don’t
deserve God’s favor. There is no amount of work or accomplishment,
there is no amount of shrewdness or competence, there is no amount
goodness or lack of badness – there is no enough coming from
us to enter into the presence of God. Except somehow in God Himself,
in Christ, He asks us to come. And those who are in Christ have a
deep and profound gratitude for His calling upon them. It causes a strong and overflowing joy, starting here, on this side of eternity.
If you are not among
the elect, do you want to be? Does it distress you to think that you
might be left out of this unearned and unfairly-granted eternal-joy?
If so, then ask God that He might call you to be among the select
few. Ask Him to consider you. Ask Him to grant you the desire for
Him that you don’t yet have. Ask God to create in you a love for
Him. And prepare yourself for God to answer.
* When I was a dumb kid I asked my Youth Pastor about the unforgivable sin - shout out to PJ. I remember his answer, which remains a better explanation than anything I’ve come across since (and I’ve heard a lot). Here it is: The sin which cannot be pardoned is the sin of dying without accepting Christ as Lord. It is a sin against the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit is softening each of our hearts to His saving grace (Hebrews 3:15). A hardened heart is one which rejects God’s lordship up until the point of physical death. Once God takes you out of your body, out of this world, there is no further opportunity to repent. See the Rich Man in Abraham’s Bosom (Luke 6:19-31).
** It wasn’t the Jews who killed Jesus. It was me. He laid His life down for me, that I might be with Him. What love (John 15:13)!