"The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also
insulting Him with the same words" (Matthew 27:44)
Hey Gang, The past
several mornings I have centered the messages on the subject that I call ‘The
key to walking with Christ’, namely "Choices".
It is now six thirty in the morning and I
have already made a dozen or more choices; What will I wear today? will I
peal one or two oranges? How many scopes
of coffee should I put in the coffee pot? And what shall I zero in on in the
morning message? As my day progresses the choices will get more numerous and
probably much more life impacting than whether I should peal one or two oranges
or what I should wear.
There is nothing more
impacting on our lives than the choices we make. One of the sayings that
I picked up during the Star Wars era was, ‘Your
choices determine Your Destiny’. God
modified this to me and preceded it with these most important words-
"Your Attitude". Together they read, "Your Attitude determines your Choices and Your Choices determine Your
Destiny". Words you can take to the bank!
Remember in the last morning message, I shared
the news that God provides us with choices that have eternal consequences?
Why were there three crosses on Calvary’s Hill? The two criminals had
much in common but when reality set in, one suddenly got some smarts.
Both
were convicted to die by the same system, both were surrounded by the crowd,
both equally close to Jesus. In fact they began with the same sarcasm, "The
two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus" (Matt. 27:44). But
something happened to one of the thieves and he cried out, "Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom". (Read
Luke 23:39-43)
There are times
when God sends thunder to stir us. There are times when He sends
blessings to lure us. But then there are times when God sends nothing but
silence, as He honors us with the freedom to choose where we will spend
eternity. He gave the thieves on the crosses the choice as to where they
would spend eternity.
And what an
honor it is! In so many areas of life we have no choice. Think
about it. You didn't choose your gender, race or place of birth or
siblings. Sometimes our lack of choices angers us. "It's not
fair "we say, “that I am so slow, or my nose is too big, or I cannot keep
my body at the exact weight I desire.”
Soooo, one
last thought about the thief who repented: no question he had made a barn full
of wrong choices, choices he was paying for. Is he reaping the fruit of
those bad choices? No, just the opposite. The thief is
enjoying the fruits of one good choice he made. In the end all his bad
choices were redeemed by a solitary good one.
How could two men see
the same Jesus and one choose to mock Him and other choose to pray to
Him? And the one who prayed, Jesus loved enough to save him, and when the
other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the
choice. He does the same for each of us!!
Blessings,
Gramps
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