Proverbs 16: 9 NKJV
There is much to be said about the path that a person chooses to follow in their life. For such a decision will likely have lasting implications in ones life. Where would I be if Christ Jesus had suddenly, in a moment of weakness, decided not to follow that road to the cross? How much different would history have been if the apostle Paul had decided to follow Christ sooner than his own Damascus road experience? Indeed, that path we all ultimately choose will not only affect our own lives, but the lives of others as well. A coworker of mine is fond of a particular saying, "don't practice being foolish because you may just get good at it." Of course, there is much to be learned from such a statement. However, how much of our own lives is determined by our own actions and how much is guided by that which is unseen? Solomon writes to the reader of proverbs 16 that while we may indeed plan our own ways, it is the Lord who directs our steps. So, are we simply here to plan a life path that God will ultimately direct us down? For me, I like that explanation better than the universe being just a happenstance of random events. There is no doubt for those who follow the Lord that His creation has been given that precious ability of choice. For good or bad, we alone choose that path we will follow in life. A good friend often has told me that we are the only branch of our Lords creation given the ability to make a choice. There are those who choose to follow the Lord and those who refuse to even consider it. Does this alter their identity as a child of God? Absolutely not, only that they chose a different path. Somewhere along the line, we are all faced with the decision of whether to follow the Father or take a different road. For myself, it would come down to that road not taken.
25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29“Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30“And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31“But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
Luke 16: 25 - 31 NKJV
Not so long ago I was fond of telling my closest friends that I would never be like my own father. For my own father was prone to alchoholism and promiscuity not only while he was married but in the years following as well. As a result of his own choices, I never knew my own father that well. So, in a way, I was correct in saying that I would never be like my own father. Where my fathers path was one of satisfying the flesh, my own was one of coming to know my Father in heaven. Would my own father have come to know the Lord had we connected later in life? Perhaps, but it is also understood that those choices I made for myself were available to him as well. The very same scriptures and prophets which influenced me were also there for my own dad as well. Because I do not know if he ultimately came to know the Lord later in his life, I can only assume that his life continued in the same direction as when I knew him. Yes, that is a bold assumption to make, but one that is made out of knowing what little I know of my father and his family. Again, my fathers life choices can never take away the fact that he, as well as his son, are children of our heavenly Father. That false belief that we all too often carry with us is that we alone are in control of the circumstances in our lives. Despite our own ability to choose, it is we who are totally independent of our heavenly Father. Not only is this belief in error, it portrays a false relationship we share with our Lord. For we are not seperate at all. For those who know Christ Jesus, He lives through us today {Galations 2:20}. Jesus did not simply rise from the dead only to look down on Gods children from heaven. There is no seperation between ourselves and God, for that is not relationship at all.
"Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another persons throat."
~William Paul Young The Shack~
~Scott~
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