Purpose and Choice

(Today's reading - Deuteronomy 33-34; Luke 1:24-56)

Today, we say goodbye to Moses. He sees the Land, he dies and God buries him. Then we read a very special tribute to this great man of God...Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
(Deut 34: 10-12)
We are saying goodbye to a awesome servant of God. The life of Moses stands as a witness to what God can do through an average person... if he/she will be obedient and make themselves available to Him.

In the book of Luke, Mary becomes pregnant with the Son of God. She visits Elizabeth, who is carrying John in her womb. John leaps for joy when he hears Mary's voice. Again, Mary is a great example of what God can do through an average human if he/she allows Him to work through them. By now you are getting my point. As we consider our purpose here on planet earth, the first thing we see in scripture is that God will work through those that are willing to allow Him to work through them. Maybe on occasion, (not even sure of that) God takes control and forces His will onto an individual, but more often than not, He gives each person the free will to chose.

So, point number one... for God to work through our lives, we must choose to let Him. Could Moses have refused to go to Pharaoh? Most certainly. Could Mary have said, "no thanks" to the angel? Absolutely. We might not like to think about that reality, but both of them made the decision to say "yes" to God. As elementary as it may sound, for us to have any real purpose here, the first thing we must do is turn over the reigns of our lives to the One who knows everything. Our involvement in His plans must be on His terms... imagine the players on a basketball team telling the coach that they are not going to follow the play he called. The next play, those players would be sitting on the bench and another player would be in their place.

You want proof that God let's people choose... Jonah! I know... God used events to persuade him to be obedient, but we are told that he made the decision to disobey God and then to obey God(chapter 3). Even after three days in the belly of the fish, Jonah still had a decision to make. Obey or disobey. Its' the same for you and me. God gives us very specific things that He wants us to change in our lives and things that He wants us to do... but the choice is ours. He is not going to run over our personal ability to choose. If He does this, what is the judgement all about? I will stand before Him and say, "I had no choice in the matter, don't hold me responsible for the actions you caused". Seriously, think about it.

For the non-Christian, the first choice is whether or not to believe and respond to the message of salvation found in Jesus. In Acts 2, we see Peter give the first gospel message after Jesus' ascension. Many chose to ignore the message, but 3000 heard the good news and made the decision to obey... they repented of their sins, were baptized for the remission of their sins and received the Holy Spirit (reads Acts 2:38ff). The choice was theirs! And the choice is ours. Eternity depends on this choice.

For the Christian, it is the daily choice of being a disciple of Jesus. Will you tell your neighbor the good news? Will I help the family down the street where the father just lost his job? Will you help send a missionary to Japan? Will I take a meal to a person shut-in due to illness? Will you confront the sin in your life and choose to live more rightly? Will I be the light on the hill? So, what I am saying is this... our first purpose on this earth is to choose His purpose for our lives. Unless and until I do that, nothing else in this life will ever make sense.

Tomorrow, we will start looking at what it looks like after you have made Him your Lord and Master. We all know what it looks like to reject Him... we have all done it. (at least I have) Talk to you then.

Love God, Love People

Dale