The Choice is Ours

We make countless choices every day. We decide what to wear, what to eat, who to hang out with. We decide what time to get up, unless we have a job that dictates that. Even then, we had the choice of taking that job, looking for a different one, or not working at all but instead backpacking around the country. We decide what TV shows to watch or whether to even have a TV set in our house. We decide how to spend our leisure time, whether to pick up the receiver when the phone rings, or how long to let mold grow on the food in the fridge before we throw it away. The choice most often is ours.

Although some countries severely limit freedoms, that is not how God created us to live. He is all about freedom and giving us the opportunity to make our own choices. Unlike the animals He created with instincts, He gave man the ability to think and decide for himself how to live his life, even when it means making the wrong choices. That is clear from the beginning of history.

When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He told them, “¹⁶You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). From the start God has laid out what is right and what is wrong, and He tells us the consequences of making the wrong decisions. Adam and Eve made a bad choice in disobeying God, and mankind has experienced the consequence of death ever since. Death was never God’s plan for us, but He allows us to choose.

On the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land, God spoke to them through Moses to tell them what He expected of His people. He related all the behaviors that would bring them a good life and all the behaviors that would bring destruction. Then He said, “⁴You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. ⁵Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:4-5). God knew that in obeying Him, His people would experience life rather than death. He wanted so much for them to choose His ways that He commanded them to do so—yet He didn’t force them.

Joshua took over when Moses died, and he led the Israelites into their Promised Land. Sometimes they made good choices and sometimes they didn’t, so before he died Joshua felt it necessary to challenge the people again to make the choice to serve God:

“¹⁴Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15).

It is only because God loves us He allows us to make our own choices, including bad ones. He wants us to trust Him and return His affection, but we can’t be made to love someone. He wants us to follow the way of life He has given us in His Word because He knows that is the only way to a truly good life. But forcing us to do that is not love. So He lovingly lets us choose.

God makes His own choices, too, except when it comes to His character. We are told God “does not lie” (Titus 1:2). Because He is Truth (John 14:6), it is impossible for Him to lie. Because He is Love (1 John 4:16), He can’t choose not to love. When we mess up, He still loves us because Love is who and what He is. He is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4) and cannot contradict His character. In any other situation, though, God makes His own choices.

When Jesus was born of flesh and lived among men on earth, He made everyday choices like we do: where to go, what to do, who to talk with, what to say. He experienced firsthand all that man experiences, including every temptation. The writer of Hebrews said of Jesus, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus could have made bad choices, but He never did.

Perhaps Jesus made His biggest choice in a garden in Gethsemane the day before His crucifixion. He knew what He was supposed to do. It was the reason He came to earth. The plan had long been in place. “He was chosen before the creation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20) to be our Redeemer, our bridge to a relationship with God. It was through Him we would be delivered from death and darkness into the life God created us for. His coming to earth and suffering death were prophesied. He knew exactly why He was here.

Yet, He had a choice. He didn’t have to follow through. In fact, He agonized over His decision. He knew anything was possible for His Father and pleaded three times for a change in plans. When He received the answer that there was no plan B, Jesus chose His Father’s will (Mark 14:32-42).

Jesus’ choice in the garden presents each of us with the most important decision we’ll ever make. It is a choice no one can take from us because we make it in our heart. Do we choose to let Jesus into our life to deliver us from our sin and transform us into the person God created us to be, or do we leave Him standing outside?

Jesus wants more than anything to come in. He died to come in. But out of the abundance of His love, He leaves the choice to us.

Feature photo by Murray Williams from FreeImages