Wrong Choices

John 6:70,71

When you think of wrong choices, what comes to your mind?  RMS Titanic, the ship that was believed unsinkable, but we have this report of its last night afloat:

On the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912, the moon was not visible in the clear sky (being two days before new moon), the temperature had dropped to near freezing, and the ocean was flat calm. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the preceding few days, had drawn up a new course, which took the ship slightly further southward. That Sunday at 1:45 PM, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but because wireless radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were employed by Marconi, and paid primarily to relay messages to and from the passengers, they were not focused on relaying "non-essential" ice messages to the bridge.  Later that evening, another report of numerous large icebergs, this time from Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge. (Source Wikipedia)  And because of bad choices 1500 people died.

C.S. Lewis said and I quote:  "Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."  In the beginning before the fall of man, God called us good, but Adam and Eve made a choice and it was a very bad choice that far exceeded all other bad choices.  But it is reported in Scripture that before God was your Creator, He had already made a choice to take on flesh and become like us in all ways but one, He could not sin.  And because of the Son of God (Jesus Christ) being willing to become flesh and be our redeemer, God the Father chose to forgive all who would by faith put their trust in Jesus.  In Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God chose to make us worth dying for, by the blood of His own Son.

Most who read this will have some knowledge of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.  But he was also prophesied in the Old Testament in Psalm109: 8 and Zechariah 11:12, and we know that in Matthew 26:14-17, we have the action of his betrayal.  We also have the record of Judas being sorry for his choice of betraying Jesus in Matthew 27:3-5, and he gave back the money and hung himself. 

Now we get to John 6:70-71, and it comes with this understanding; Jesus being God knew what was in Judas’ heart before choosing him, did Judas have a choice?  “Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve?  And yet one of you is a devil.”  He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.”  How you answer that question will answer many other questions, such as, do I really believe God has given me the freedom to choose?  As I’ve stated before God does not have a past or a future, only we “Time Critters” let future and past have control over our actions, but God who made time is not under it’s control, He sees all things in the present.  Judas, like Adam and Eve and the Captain of the Titanic made bad choices.  And choices are not made in a vacuum they always affect others.  I am so glad Jesus and God the Father chose to redeem us from the bad choices of Adam and Eve.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice