The wide, wide world of Jesus, versus the limited options of Satan.
Isn’t it amazing how naïve we can be?Sometimes we don’t even grow up, but we stay locked in the cultural paradigm that sound something like this: “to be free means to be able to do anything I want to do”. That sounds good, but it’s not real or realistic, I believe that Satan, our enemy, is behind that statement.
Another way to state the lie is like this:
“Following Jesus stifles your choices and options, while living for yourself with no regard for God will open up a much wider space for your life and happiness.”
We may think if we just had a lot of money, or power, or possessions that would really make us happy, and we would then have all these options in life. I agree with that to a degree, but I realize that if that were true, all the wealthy people would be happy and all the poor people would be miserable. I have found reality to be the opposite in many, many cases.
The men that I worked with in addiction recovery, would sometimes say after one of their friends left to go back into the old addiction lifestyle, “I wish I could go do that again.“ You could tell they had made a lot of progress when they stopped saying that. They stopped envying those who were going backward and started praying for them. They now hoped that they would never go back to addiction again. That’s freedom – that’s an open door to the wide, wide world of Jesus
Satan‘s ways are attractive at first but limiting later on,, and finally destructive of self, of relationships, and of choices. Jesus, on the other hand, gives life, forgiveness, freedom, opportunities, relationships, love, and such a variety of choices that it boggles the mind.
As Carol and I travel, currently traveling with friends, we are learning about people and ministries all over the world, where individuals, couples and families are using their talents, their knowledge, their wisdom, and their wealth to be a blessing to others, and to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. They’ve made many choices in their lives, as we have, but the best one was to give our life to Jesus, and turn the future over to the one who holds the future, even Jesus Christ our Lord.
So where are you, friend? Are you in the middle of another choice about the next step in your life, or at a crossroads, where the decision you make will determine the meaning and purpose of your life? I’ve heard it said many times that “the first part of our life is to find success, and the last part is to find significance”. I say finding real success following Jesus leads to significance in this life and the one to come!
What do you say?
Our God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, can take even our worst decisions and turn them into a future that is both successful and meaningful. Jesus and you can make lemonade out of lemons.