Decisions
I would start this off by asking you to imagine yourself being disobedient. Imagine going left when you should have gone right. Imagine asking and listening to advice from someone and doing everything contrary to what that person had suggested. Imagine being reprimanded by a parent and doing the same thing that you had just got in trouble for. Imagine going to the doctor and hearing that you should consider a healthier lifestyle but going to McDonald’s right after. Imagine getting paid and knowing you should save and tithe, but instead you spend it on something that was not necessary. I would say imagine, but the truth is you’ve done it. I’ve done it. At some point in our lives, we have all made conscious disobedient decisions. It is in our nature to be disobedient. If it wasn’t, then how would we learn? But, as a child, wasn’t it easier for us to hide our acts of disobedience from our parents? We’d much rather tell a thousand and one lies about what we did or make up a thousand and one excuses as to why we did it, instead of just confessing, “I was wrong. I apologize.” We’ve done this with our parents, we’ve done it with our partners, we’ve done it with our friends and our family members. Quite frankly, we also might just say nothing at all, and this is what we do with God. Let me elaborate.
Parents know when their child has done something wrong or when they are about to do something wrong. A parent can simply tell by the look on a child’s face. We’ve all heard that saying, “You look like you’re up to no good.” However, as the child grows older and gains more freedom, they learn how to get smart with what they do and practice their poker face so, eventually, they end up getting away with things. But what happens when someone is in our thoughts and is witnessing our wrongful acts and decisions? What happens when someone knows what we’re about to do and is listening to every thought we have before we even do that thing? Most of us would run and hide from this person because of how embarrassed we would be or how terrible we would feel owning up and confessing what we’ve done. This is what we do with God.
But what if that person has an unconditional and everlasting love for us despite of what we do or have done? What if that person chooses to forgive us, completely forget and not hold anything against us? What if that person chooses to embrace us instead? Would that then diminish our shame and cause us to run to that person? That person is God. See, God knows every one of our thoughts before we even think them. He knows every decision we are going to make, right and wrong. It is just up to us to decide how we respond when these decisions are made. Will we boast or praise God? Will we repent or run from God? The decision is completely up to us.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24, the word states: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV “’He himself bore our sins,’” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for the righteousness: ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”
1 Peter 2:24 NIV The word does not state “… that we WILL become the righteousness of God,” or “… that we WILL die to sins and live for the righteousness,” it states that we MIGHT. Our God is a God of free will and the decision is ultimately up to us as individuals. So, do we run from God or do we run to God?
