Your Choice
Disobedience is to judgment as Obedience is to blessing. In Joshua’s final message to Israel, he challenged them with these words, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…” (Josh. 24:15). All of life is choices. Conscious or not, we make hundreds of them every day. Some are mundane and don’t mean much, e.g. what shirt to wear. Some are significant and can carry lifelong consequences, e.g. who to marry, what career to pursue, etc.
There is one choice…
that has not only lifelong ramifications, but eternal ones as well. And that is how you answer the question, “What will I do with Jesus Christ?” If we think about today’s opening line, I don’t think any of us would consciously choose judgment over blessing. But here’s the thing. Obedience has to be a conscious decision. Otherwise, left to “chance,” our default is always disobedience. Without conscious choice, we’re by nature lazy and
undisciplined. We have to choose to get up and go to work, choose to wash the dishes, etc. You get the point.
Whichever way you answer The Question, the consequences are eternal. Putting it off, by default, results in judgment. So what, you say. I don’t believe in all that stuff, you say. OK. Maybe you don’t believe in the law of sowing and reaping either. Stated in today’s vernacular, “what goes around, comes around.” It’s your choice. But imagine yourself as the rich man (we’ll call him Bob) in Jesus’ parable of Bob and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. They both die. Lazarus goes to heaven (Abraham’s bosom) and Bob is buried and shows up in Hades (precursor to hell). Listen to Bob’s tormented plea, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.” (v.24) Notice, their spirits are both still alive. There is life after death and there are only two destinations.
Bob asks for mercy.
Three things are wrong with his request. First, he’s asking the wrong person. Only Jesus can grant (eternal) mercy. Second, his motive is wrong. All he wants is to ease his suffering, he’s not sorry for the wrong choices, he’s only sorry he got caught. Third, it’s too late. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). There is no place in the Bible that describes Purgatory or any other intermediate place after death. You either go to heaven to be with Jesus forever, or you’re in hell suffering like Bob…forever. No second chance after you die.
Harsh words? Maybe. But if you’re heading for a cliff and there’s no guardrail, don’t you appreciate a “danger ahead” alert? God is a God of love “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4), but He doesn’t force anyone. Consider this your danger ahead alert. And don’t wait. Time is running out when it will be too late. Click here to learn the truth about God’s mercy.