Decisions, Decisions

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:14)

In this life we make decisions. Some of them are unimportant and have no real impact on our lives, but others are a matter of life and death. Such is the decision we make about God. It is really the only important decision we must make.

Many people go through life thinking they have plenty of time to decide about God. Maybe He exists, maybe He doesn’t. No big deal. I’ll decide later.  However, not deciding or choosing to believe in God and all that He has told us, is actually a decision not to follow God. And that life leads to destruction and eternity without God.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Think of this lifetime as lasting one day and eternity as lasting 10,000 years. In this one day we must decide where we will spend the 10,000 years. We only have one day to decide and then we will spend the next 10,000 years in one of two places. We only have two choices and one of those doesn’t even have to be a conscious choice.

We can choose to believe in God, follow Him during this one day, ask Him to forgive our sins and help us in this day, or we can choose not to believe in God. We can also ignore the whole decision-making process which then becomes a decision in itself.

Choosing God means we will spend 10,000 years in peace, where there will be no pain or suffering, no crying and no evil. Spending the next 10,000 years with God requires a conscious choice to follow Him but anything else, any other decision, or no decision means we will spend the next 10,000 years without God. Without God there will be misery and suffering. We only have this lifetime (this day) to decide and we never know when it will end.

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

God created the universe and He created us. Everyone knows you can’t get something from nothing, so we know the universe was created. If created, there must have been a creator. God is the creator. Once we have made the decision to believe in God the creator, we can then believe what has been told to us by Him. His words have been proven true by the recorded prophesies (predictions) that have come to pass over thousands of years.

A decision to believe in God means we believe that He sent His son, literally His word in human form, to suffer the punishment and death for the crimes we have committed against God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Believing in God means believing that Christ rose from the dead, in part, to show us that we will also be resurrected after death to eternal life with Him. Our decision will determine whether we will live eternally with God or eternally apart from God.

He created us with the free will to make this decision because He wanted us to believe in Him and to follow Him freely. The first of His creation made a bad decision from the very first, and many have continued to disregard His instructions ever since.

Each of us still has a decision to make and He will continue to gently prod us, showing us His truth along the way, and urging us to make the right decision, until our last breath.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

This life is our opportunity to choose where we will spend eternity. It doesn’t matter what church we attend or what day we worship. It doesn’t matter how we dress or the songs we sing. The only thing that matters is our decision. Have we decided to believe and asked our Father to forgive us for those wrongs He died for?

When we make the decision to believe and follow Him, He will come into our hearts (as His Holy Spirit) and we will have a relationship with Him as our Father.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:10)

If we decide by faith to believe and follow our Creator and His son Jesus Christ, we will have made the right decision and will be assured of eternal life with God that is a lot longer than 10,000 years. We will be righteous in God’s sight.

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)

Prayer: Lord decisions can be difficult to make. We hear arguments on all sides and people try to convince us that You do not exist or that You do not care about us. But we know that You created the heavens and the earth, and we know that You created us. We choose to believe in You. Our decision is made Lord and our lives now belong to you. Forgive our wrongs and guide us into living our lives the way Christ would live. Amen.