Free Choice

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Mark 1:43-45

Jesus spoke to the man He had just cured of leprosy, telling him to keep the miracle quiet and instead to just offer sacrifices to God and to show himself to the priest in order that He could prove through these sacrifices that the healing was real and was from God and that Jesus respected the law. Instead of obeying, this man chose to do the exact opposite of what Jesus had told Him to do and as a result, Jesus was forced to withdraw from Galilee because of His growing popularity and the opposition that He was facing from the Jewish leaders. It saddens my heart to read here of how Jesus was now required to “stay outside in lonely places”. The fact of the matter is that we live in a fallen world where sin abounds and where people who have been given the blessing of “free choice” have made decisions that are apart from God. These decisions to live for “self” rather than to live in accordance with God’s will always cause pain, hurt,emptiness and loneliness as nothing good will come in this life apart from the lordship of your creator. You may ask then why God would create us this way when He knew in advance the problems that would arise out of a heart that has the ability to choose. The answer is simple and quite profound. The answer is that without the ability to choose to love God then our relationship with God would not be genuine and our God is all about authentic love that binds us together with Him for eternity. Be encouraged today as you have a God who can relate to your loneliness and to the scars that you bear as a result of the fallen world here in which we live since He has faced the same pain and loneliness Himself as He came to earth in the flesh and walked in this broken world and eventually gave His life in order to pay the price for sin and to repair your broken relationship with Him. Choose to live your life for Jesus today as true love can only be found in a heart that surrenders to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

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