The Choice Is Yours

The courtroom was silent as the judge carefully eyed the accused. No one made a sound, apart from a slight cough or clearing of throat.

Sinner stood scared before the judge, his right eye twitching and his left hand nervously tapping his leg. The judge noted that Sinner definitely wasn't the best looking specimen; his skin was scratched and dirty, his hands were bony and the veins protruded out, probably making handshakes a very undesirable option. However, apart from a few marks on his face, Sinner definitely could have been beautiful once, in his youth, long before his battle with the world.

The judge scratched his chin and looked over his glasses to a note on his lectern. "Sinner, you have been accused of murder, theft, lying, drunkenness and disorderly behavior, gossip, rape, jealousy... Need I go on? "

Sinner shook his head as a tear escaped down his cheek.

"Do you plead guilty?"

Sinner gulped and gave a little nod, "I do, your honour."

"Ok then, your punishment is death followed by eternity in the depths of hell."

Sinner gasped and cried, falling onto his knees and begging the judge to spare him, after all, there was so much he hadn't done yet and he really was sorry, he'd never do it again, promise.

The judge just sighed and was about to comment when suddenly a man stood up and shouted, "No! Wait! Spare him! Take my Son instead!" Next to Him stood a tall man with built shoulders, probably from doing some sort of carpenter work, and a wise face with warm eyes.

The whole courtroom turned to look at this insane man.

"And why would you offer your Son?" asked the judge, "What has He done wrong?"

"That's the beauty of it," replied the Man. "He has done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, a more pure and holy man is impossible to find. He is constantly helping others and healing the sick."

"It's true!" shouted a member of the jury, "I saw him with my own eyes. He even forgave a adulteress and fed thousands of people. My cousin recently saw Him raise a man from the dead!"

A woman sitting in the back stood up, "Yes, it's all true. In fact, I was suffering from constant bleeding and by just touching Him, I was healed. I even saw Him having dinner with a man from SARS of all places! And then this man paid back all the people he cheated. I was shocked."

The judge stared over his glasses, flabbergasted. "Tell me, sir, if your Son is as incredible as He sounds, why would you let Him receive Sinner's punishment?"

 

"It's simple," replied the Man, "it's because I love the Sinner."

Sometimes I think we hear the story of the cross so often that it tends to lose some of it's impact... It could be just me, but sometimes in church, when the pastor talks about the Crucifixion, I've just thought "ya, ya, so sad, I'm so lucky, when's lunch?" (I don't mean it as horribly as it sounds!:P ) But, the thing is, the Crucifixion was HECTIC and it should impact us every time we hear it, no matter how sugarcoated or watered down the message is. I mean think about it: maybe you haven't murdered someone, and maybe you've always made sure you go to church and give money to a beggar every so often, but did you really deserve to have someone ultimately go to hell for you so that you don't have to? I definitely don't deserve that. I mean I've lied, I've had some nasty words slip out my mouth (especially when I'm driving and a certain type of car thinks they own the road), I've probably stolen several things in my life (yup, I even stole half a brownie at church once, that's how horrible I am). There's so much I've done wrong and often do wrong on purpose; I mean I know it's a sin, but wow, it really is the easier option!

The thing is, as we can see from the opening story, basically this innocent, good man decided to take our, the sinner's, punishment. Romans 3:23 tells us that we ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The truth is, we actually all deserve hell. But you know what, God isn't some mean, nasty old grumpy man in the sky who wants to see us all burn. That doesn't bring Him any joy! 2 Peter 3:9 says that God "is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Then 1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, "This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, WHO WANTS ALL MEN TO BE SAVED and come to the knowledge of the truth."

This doesn't sound like some mean God who laughs His head off when someone goes to hell, in fact, I think it genuinely hurts Him to see His children suffer. Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner who repents." If there is rejoicing in heaven when a sinner goes to heaven, surely there must be sadness when a sinner goes to hell instead.

Now like I said earlier, we are all sinners and we actually deserve to go to hell. However, God, instead of letting us perish, and because of His great love for us, decided to give us a second chance by letting His Son die on the cross for our sins. We just have to decide whether we will accept that second chance or not.

Now the big question is WHY. Why would this BIG almighty God who created EVERYTHING, want to save little old you and tiny old me? I mean our human brains are wired to question every single situation and know every single detail. We overthink or stress about many things that don't require much thought or worry at all.

Personally, I think too often we actually overthink the Gospel, we want to know the nitty gritty details of every single parable or lesson, that we seem to forget the pure, and simple message. God didn't inspire people with the words to write the Bible so He could confuse readers and cause people to doubt or turn away. No, in fact, He wrote it to basically instruct us on how to live before we leave earth (Bible = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth).

The thing with the Bible is, it was written by several different people who will have different views and perspectives, and often we take this as the Bible contradicting itself. However, if you look deeper, you will see that it isn't contradicting itself at all. Trust, I've had several moments like this, but as soon as I look to the WHOLE Bible (after all, the Old and New Testament do still have links), I see that there is no contradiction at all.

Moving on, got a bit carried away there :P

But God's reason for the way He blesses us and helps us and gives us the amazing gift of salvation is easy: it's love. Pure, simple, undignified, radical, powerful, heart-wrenching, life-changing love. If we only knew just how much God truly loved us, I think our minds would literally explode! Honestly, it is CRAZY how much He loves YOU. God isn't a far-away dad who only wants to give 5% of His time to you. No! God is the type of dad who shows up at every single sports game or play or show or anything, wearing a huge foam finger with your name on it and screeeeaming His support. Yup, we have all seen those dads!

God's love for you is so crazy big, that He is willing to give His PERFECT Son for YOU, an imperfect person.

If you had the choice to save either an innocent baby who hasn't done anything wrong his whole life, or some murderer who also stole your car a while back, who would you choose? Most people would choose the baby, but God? He chose that murderer, and that murderer is you.

Yoh.

It honestly blows my mind how humble and kind God is to have given His Son so that we didn't have to go to hell (I've read some verses about hell and trust, it definitely does not sound like a nice place to be!).

 

But here's the thing: God has this amazing gift waiting for you, and all you have to do is open it. How do you open it?

Easy!

Romans 10:9, "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

If you haven't given your life to God, I honestly suggest you do it, it is seriously the best decision you could EVER make. Just tell Him you confess you're a sinner and you're sorry for what you've done. Tell Him you believe in Him and want to give your life to Him. God and His angels will be rejoicing for dayyyyys!

 

Now God has given us a second chance. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

So what if you've made mistakes? So what if you come from a horrible background? So what if you've done some things you're not proud of? Once you give your life to God, you are WASHED CLEAN. That old dirt is NO MORE. Stop holding  onto your past and stop letting your past determine your future. If you have given your life to God, He WILL forgive your sins and He will help you move on to become the best you that you can be. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."

Don't let your past sins hold you back from experiencing the amazing things God has in store for you. Let Him refresh you and allow Him to walk this new journey with you. Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8 say that God is with you and near you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. No matter what happens, He will always love you. He is ready to help you experience things you never even thought possible, to feel joy that few even know about, to indulge in a kind of love that will leave you forever changed. He's ready... Are you?

 

After all, the choice is yours.