The Choice

 

Michael writes that Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, there is a broad way through a broad gate that leads to destruction. Many proceed through the wide gate into broad way … the way of the God-rejecting world. However, there is also a narrow gate that leads to a narrow way and few there be that find it. The way of life according to the Kingdom of Heaven is opposed to the path leading to death and destruction, fashioned according to the kingdom of this fallen world. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father except by me”. Jesus Christ himself is the narrow gate and the narrow way to our Heavenly Father. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

God gives His people a choice and the freedom of choice. As Joshua said, “Choose ye this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Prior to salvation, we did not have freedom of choice in that we were born in sin and enslaved by the sin nature that we inherited from Adam. The wages of sin is death, but in Jesus Christ we have life and life more abundantly. Even though the wages of sin is death, Jesus Christ who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him and saved. When Jesus bids a man or woman to come, He bids them come and die to sin. In order to live in Christ, we must die to self. Galatians 2:20 says, For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

When we were married, we made a wedding vow pledging ourselves one to another in the witness of God and men. The reason we make vows is to counteract our sin nature that is unwilling to make a commitment. When Jesus offered a man to come follow Him, one man said, I will but first, I need to bury my father. He said, I have different priorities. I need to wait to inherit my father’s estate after he’s dead. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life,” Jesus asked, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but God.” Then Jesus said, “you know the law. Don’t steal, don’t commit murder, don’t bear false witness, don’t commit adultery, Honor your father and your mother.”  In other words, love your neighbor as yourself. The man answered, “I’ve kept all these laws since my youth.” Jesus said, “But one thing you lack. Go sell all your goods, give the proceeds to the poor, and come follow me.” The man went away sorrowful for he had great wealth. He had failed to keep the first commandment: thou shalt have no other gods before me. In other words, there shall be no other gods between your face and my face. His money and riches came between him and God. He had forgotten the first and great commandment: to love God above all.

There is always a decision to make. One path leads to destruction and the other path leads to life. No decision is a decision because of original sin. Will you choose the broad way (no salvation) or the narrow way (salvation in Christ alone)? Have you humbled your heart under the mighty hand of God? Have you mourned over the sin that has separated your heart from God? 2 Corinthians 4: 4 says regarding unbelievers, the God of this world has blinded the eyes of those who believe not, lest the glorious light of the gospel of truth should shine unto them. The snare of the devil holds unbelievers captive against their wills. They’re captured and enslaved but their eyes have been blinded, so they don’t even realize they are in bondage.  

Evil conversations, evil associations, evil compadres corrupt good morals. We receive our “morals” from those we choose to spend time with. Our mores (pronounced “morays”) or accepted moral standards, are formed by those around us. That is why the church family is so important. In a world of darkness of sin and unbelief, 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanse us from all sin.” When we follow in the dust of the Rabbi [Jesus Christ], we chase after our Christian brothers and sisters who are chasing after Christ. The question is, Who are your twelve in your outer circle of closest confidants and who are your three in the inner circle? What does it mean to make a covenant, a vow, a binding agreement to follow in the path of righteousness on the narrow way of Jesus Christ? 

Worldly Economics is known as the “dismal science.” Decisions are based on a cost-benefit analysis, on risk-return tradeoffs. In the world’s “zero-sum” game, the cost of following the broad way is destruction, for the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. For each worldly choice we make there is an “opportunity cost.” This is the cost of lost opportunities that we could have, would have, and should have chosen instead of the one we chose. Choosing the world’s broad way loses the opportunity to have walked in the joy of the Lord in the narrow way that leads to life and life more abundantly. The world counts the cost of “the road not taken.” These “sins of omission” are the opportunities missed. Sin is the missing of the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The devil will condemn us into shame and guilt for not having chosen the narrow way. However when we Christians fall, God will catch us in a net of mercy and grace. To enter His correction and restoration feedback loop, we repent and change direction to follow after Christ. Repentance means to change my mind, to do an about-face from following my own path to return to his narrow way.  

When we choose the broad way of the lost and dying world, nothing we obtain will satisfy. There is an insatiable hunger and thirst for worldly things that are never enough. However, when we choose to follow the narrow way, Jesus Christ is our sufficiency… he is our all in all. He is our bread of life and our unlimited fountain of living water. The choice to serve the Lord is not about the cost. Instead it’s about the value. The value of walking according to the purpose for which he’s designed us. That with a heart of love, filled to the full, filled with the spirit of God that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael