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Is That Your
Final Answer?
We
love choices, options, variety. At least we think we do. But often
when faced with a bewildering array of complex choices, we become quickly
overwhelmed and frustrated. Trying to choose among a variety of health
plans, financial strategies, insurance policies, and more can be taxing.
Researching the details of each takes time and effort.
Yet, we still stubbornly demand
choices! If Henry Ford were alive today and running Ford Motor Company, he'd be
out of business overnight telling customers they could have any color car they
wanted, as long as it was black. And any grocery store that didn't stock a
humongous variety of everything would draw very few customers.
Why are we so fond of choices,
even when we hate having to decide? Having a choice puts us in control. It makes
us the captain of our fate. After all, nobody's going to tell me what's best for
me except me! Right?
We've even made our eternal
destiny a matter of multiple choice. The thinking is that all roads lead to the
same God, and ultimately to the same heaven. This concept says we can choose any
path we want to walk, and live our lives however we choose and still reap the
same consequence.
Not only is this deluded thinking,
but it's not even logical.
Every day we are confronted with
an array of choices, each of which leads to a different consequence. This is the
very nature of choice. If all choices led to the same end, they wouldn't be
choices!
If you want a red car you don't
specify blue paint. If you want vanilla ice cream, you don't ask for chocolate.
If you are a size XL, you don't want to have to settle for a size M because
that's the only size available! Having several choices can be a good thing.
When it comes to eternity, we also
have a choice, but it's a fairly simple one. There's no avoiding the choice
since trying to avoid it actually makes it! It's also a choice that offers
maximum freedom, even though at first it may not seem so.
If you want to go to heaven, you
need to know that heaven's door does not open wide to just anyone. Jesus, viewed
by many as at least a very wise prophet, stated clearly, "The door to heaven is
narrow. Work hard to get in, because many will try to enter, but when the head
of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. Then you will stand
outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply,
‘I do not know you’" (Luke 13:24-25, NLT).
Jesus further clarified that
there's also only one route to God: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one can come to the Father [God] except through me" (John 14:6, NLT).
The path to heaven and the way to
God is singular, narrow, and exclusive. But there is another path that is very
wide and offers a very easy walk to another destination. Jesus pointed it out
when he said, "The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many
who choose the easy way." (Matthew 7:13, NLT).
Throughout the New Testament of
the Bible, Jesus and others clearly lay out what it takes to put you on the
narrow road that exclusively leads to heaven and will give you ready access to
the one true God. So that there would be no doubt about which path you were on,
Jesus said, "Anyone who isn’t helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t
working with me is actually working against me" (Matthew 12:30). Not choosing is
still a choice. You're headed one way or another.
One of the great things about
choosing to walk the singular path of Christ's way is that, while we still have
choices, we have a clearer standard to determine the right ones. When we allow
Christ to fully live in us as we fully abide in Him, the choices virtually make
themselves. Plus, He offers an infinite number of lifelines!
Only in Christ is the final answer
heaven.
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