Judges 1-3
It seems that God always leaves us with a choice. When He created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them one tree – just one – from which they were not to eat. Everything else was freely theirs. And when God brought His people into the Promised Land, He did not drive out all of the nations before them in order, it says, to test them. He left them a choice. This is why the concept of “free will” exists and, while I do believe that God gave us “free will”, I do not believe that it is possible for us to unfailingly make the right choice. It does indeed seem that we were created to fail.
Why is this so? It’s hard to say, and I think the answer is multi-faceted. But I think that the only One able to never fail is God. If we were able to never fail, we would not be human, we would be God. And clearly, we aren’t. I also think that, for whatever reason, God wanted somebody like Him to love and to love Him. Love, by definition to me, requires a choice. Again, if we were not able to make the wrong choice, the choice would not really be a choice. So we have always been given a viable choice with the full ability to make that choice.
But if we are wired to fail because we are human, is it really a choice? I think it is, but it is not a one-and-done kind of thing – it is a choice we have to keep making. And since we are human and not God, we don’t always get it right. Unfortunately, it only takes one instance of making the wrong choice to make us unworthy of being in God’s presence (see Moses as an example, where His one instance of ‘losing it’ with the people kept him out of the Promised Land) – a conundrum!! But fear not – God knew all of this and He had a plan from the very beginning. Remarkable, I say.
Luke 12:32-59
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy.” (Luke 12:32). In other words, don’t cling to the ‘stuff’ of this life, but live generously, knowing that God can and will provide all that you need in this life as you work to serve Him, storing up treasure in His kingdom.
And here’s that “stay awake” thing again…something that resonates with me because I don’t do that so well. Obviously Jesus isn’t telling us to go without sleep, but to live our lives daily for Him; to not let our allegiances stray because we think nobody notices or we have time. We know, and so will be held accountable.
And anybody who subscribes to “appeasement” or believes in “peace on earth” has not read Luke 12:49-53. It is Jesus who drew the dividing line in the sand – we are either with Him or we are not. Jesus did indeed bring peace, but only to His believers – peace between them and God and peace among themselves. But good and evil can never, ever “coexist”. So shame on us if we do not live in peace with fellow true believers, and shame on us if we do live in peace with evil.