Would You Rather...

 Remember when you were young, playing the imaginary game of "Would You Rather..."?  Simply said, it went something like "Would you rather live your life without hands, or be blind and deaf"?  It was usually always something morose, making the choice extremely difficult.

Our whole life is built on choices.  We choose what to eat, what to wear, who we will marry, what job we have, and on and on it goes.  We are always making choices in some capacity.  Some of those choices are good ones, in which we look back and thank our lucky stars that we made the right choice, others not so much.  Every choice we make, comes with consequences.  The questions is, which ones?  Bad choices, though they may not seem bad at the time, come with bad consequences, Proverbs 14:12 says this:  "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death".  This is because we have an enemy who is sneaky and cleaver, who studies us.  He knows our desires, our weakness, and he exploits them to our demise.  He is, as the bible puts it, like a lion. 1Peter 5:8 "Be alert, and of sober mind.  You enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". I have an enemy?  What are you talking about? I live a good life.  I'm kind to others.  I'm likeable.  I may not be winning any awards here, but an ENEMY?   and he wants to devour me?  OUCH!  That's kind of strong language here, don't ya think?  Yes, but it's true.  Why a lion?  Because lions are opportunists.  They are patient, waiting for that right weakling to come along, and they are stealthy, hiding in the tall grass,  for the right moment to pounce.  Sound like anyone you know?  Now be nice.  I'm not talking about your spouse.  How about Satan?  He fits the description, doesn't he?  Oh yeah, and one more thing, lions don't leave much waste behind.  So basically they DESTROY their prey.  Just like how Satan seeks to destroy us.  So what do we do?  How do we guard against this destruction in our lives?  Glad you asked.  God our Father gives us the tools we need to defeat our enemy in Ephesians 6:11-13 We are warned to stand as a soldier suited up with armor, at the ready.  " Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (antics, attacks, etc. emphasis, mine) of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand".  WOW!  You mean to tell me that God gives us armor to defeat the attacks of our enemy?  Yes, He does.  Paul goes on to tell us what that armor is, that is so powerful that it can keep us safe from our enemy.  Verses 14-18 tell us what we need in our spiritual wardrobe: "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with preparation of the gospel of peace; above all having taken the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints".  That's a lot of armor.  

First of all we told to stand.  Standing inserts dominance over someone or something.  If we stand, it means we are not weak, or inferior.  In fact we have the control over the enemy.  Mark 16: 17-18 tells us this:  "And these signs will accompany those who believe:  In My name they will cast out demons;  they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover".  Awe, come on...That's a bit far fetched don't ya think; you don't really expect me to believe this, do ya? John 14:12 says "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me, will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father".  Greater works that Jesus?  Uh huh, right... It must be true because we know that God cannot lie.  Numbers 23:19 says this about God's character:  "God is not a man, that He should lie, neither the son of man, that He should repent.  Has He said, and He will not do?  Or has He spoken, and He will not make it good?". 1John 5:20 puts it this way:  "And we know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, that we may know Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life". Okay, point well taken, God is truth and can not lie to us, but come on...God is God and we are only human.  God can do all things, but we are limited beings, bound to the physics of our world.  This is true to an extent.  Matthew 19:26 reminds us that "with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible".  All things include defeating our enemy.  NICE!  I like that.  Who wouldn't want that kind of power?

Remember though, it's a choice!  You don't have to choose this power.  You can choose to be defeated if you want.  You can choose to allow the enemy of your soul to devour you like a lion.  The choice is yours.  I can't choose for you, any more than you can choose for me.  The world tells us that people are the problem.  We know from the bible that this is not true.  Remember Ephesians 6:11-13 that just read?  It says the real enemy is against wickedness in heavenly places.  How does this wickedness seek to devour us physically, emotionally, and spiritually?  Answer:  by any means necessary.   One of Satan's tactics is to use people, usually those who are closest to us, to do his bidding.  He uses weak minded people (sometimes other Christians) to come at us, speaking against us, arguing with us, and conspiring against us, in hopes to take us down in flames.

We've all been there in our lives.  I've made some disastrous decisions in my youth, that today I can only look back and shake my head saying "What was I thinking".  Truth be told...I wasn't.  I was acting on impulse.  I was still choosing, though I felt that the choices I made were being made for me, instead of by me.  This is where the old adage from Maya Angelou about "I know better, therefore I do better", comes into play.  If I could go back and have a do over would I?  No, not at all; because even though I had to suffer some hard consequences to my bad decisions, without those consequences, I would not be the person in Christ that I am today.  You see, God can take the broken, the hurting, the bad parts of our lives and make them beautiful and whole again, just how He intended them to be in the first place.

What choices are you making in your life?  Are they ones that bring you closer to Christ, or one's that push you farther away.  The world is closing in on us, telling us that we have to accept it's ways of debauchery and filth, but we don't.  It's a choice.  We still have time to make the right choice, until...until that final trumpet blast that signals the end of the age of grace.

So here is the million dollar question: Would you rather bow to the god (little g) of this world, as fleeting as it is, and end up in an eternity of suffering and pain, without hope, light, peace, or the presence of God; or would you rather live in His eternal glory, light, peace, and love?  It's up to you.  If Christ is the One for you and you want to be a part of Bride of Christ, here is how you can know for certain that you are saved.  

Romans 10:9-10  "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation".  Time for us is almost up, when Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Bridegroom, our Blessed Hope, will appear in the clouds in which we who remain and are sealed with blood of Christ, will be called to meet Him in the air with all those in Christ who have gone before us, and we will forever be with Him.  1 Thessalonians 4:17 " then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the LORD".  I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.  What does this present world have that could possible make me want to stay here over being in perfect peace with my Creator God who loves me with an everlasting love?  Answer:  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  Eternity is too long to get it wrong.  Choose wisely.