Have you ever stood at the toothpaste aisle and noticed the many kinds of toothpaste available? Do you want the natural kind, or the peroxide kind, the sensitive tooth kind or the build your enamel kind? Of course, that doesn't even mention what the choices are for keeping dentures in snug and tight. If you've ever had to shop for someone else's toothpaste you know the challenge with all the choices.
Now of course, choices are what makes us the liberty lovin' people we are! Nobody can tell us what to do. We live our life feeling powerful knowing we 'did it my way'. . . until we run into the water company or the gas company. They mostly do things "their" way, right? Consider driving down a one way road going the wrong way. Most of us wouldn't hang our head out the window and shout, "Make me go that other way. I dare ya!" Sometimes we know there are battles we know better that to fight.
How curious it is when those same conditions come in our walk of faith. We live with very clear "yes and no" situation all the time. What is it about Jesus that would be different? Did He say He was "yes and maybe"? How about "I am the Alpha and the Most of the Time"? Did we think Jesus fits into the nebulous unknown where the mist causes things to be barely visible?
Let's be very clear. Jesus can be known and already has been known by countless numbers of people through the ages. The Bible calls them a "great cloud of witnesses" in the book of Hebrews. Is coming to know Jesus really that clear? Yes! What about people who say He's too hard and there are just too many demands? I can hear some say now, "It's all about grace!" Ahhhh . . . that wonderful term that reminds us we are getting something we don't deserve. So God, in His kindness, ushers us to the door of salvation on this carpet ride called "grace". It still stops at Jesus. A choice must be made. Does the person face to face with Jesus really believe? That's where God makes the determination - not you and me. (I like it that way actually.) I'm sure theologians can get a little more tedious in the details. I just know the step to Jesus is a faith venture. Grace gets us there; the step toward Jesus opens the door. No vast shopping choices there. No difficult demands about perfection.
Jesus is waiting. He is the Door through which we walk for salvation. (John 10:9) On one side of the door it says, "Whosoever will may come!" After we go through and look back we see, "Chosen from the foundations of the world!" He always knew we'd come. I can't get my head around those two ideas going together, but I'm sure Jesus has it covered. Thankfully, we don't have to pick from fifteen different salvation options. There is only one Lord, one Faith and one Way. There is still a choice. This is a battle Jesus has already won. I wonder why it seems so hard at times to choose to believe Jesus died for us so that we might live life abundantly.
Are you convinced that Jesus is only way?
Father, I sometimes think I am more powerful when I have choices. In some realms, that idea is true. Bargaining for more or less gives me a sense of control. Somehow, I've brought that into how I relate to You. Draw me to Your Word to read of what I have already because of the choice I made to believe in You. Soften the hearts of friends and family who haven't chosen You. I know they've made a choice, but thankfully, that choice is not final - yet. Help me not get tangled in the theological details, but remember You gave us a choice.
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