IS JESUS RELEVANT TODAY? PART EIGHT

                                     
IS JESUS RELEVANT              TODAY?

     PART EIGHT

       (copied from 
        Y-Jesus.com)


You Choose The Ending

We continually make choices - what to wear, what to eat, our career, marriage partner, etc. It is the same when it comes to a relationship with God. Author Ravi Zacharias writes:

"Jesus message reveals that every individual ... comes to know God, not by virtue of birth, but a conscious choice to let Him have His rule in his or her individual life."

Our choices are often influenced by others. But, in some instances we are given the wrong advice. On September 11th, 2001,  six hundred innocent people put their trust in the wrong advice, and innocently suffered the consequences. The true story goes like this:

One man who was on the 92nd floor of the South tower of the World Trade Center, had just heard 
a jet crashing into the North tower.  Stunned, by the explosion  he called the police to ask for instructions on what to do.  "We need to know if we have to get out of here, because we know there is an explosion,"  he said urgently on the phone.

The voice on the other end advised him not to evacuate, "I would wait until further notice."

"All right,"  the caller said, "don't evacuate and he then hung up.

Shortly after 9.00am  another jet crashed into the 80th floor of the South tower. Nearly all 600 people  in the top floors of the south tower perished. The failure to evacuate the building was one of the day's great tragedies. 

Those 600 people perished because they relied on the wrong information even though it was given by  someone who was trying to help. The tragedy would not have occurred had the 600 victims been given the right information.

Our conscious choice about Jesus is infinitely more important than the one facing the ill-informed 9/11 victims. Eternity is at stake. We can choose one of three different responses: We can ignore Him, We can reject Him, or we can accept Him. 

The reason many people go through life ignoring God is that they are too busy pushing their own agenda. Chuck Colson was like that. At age 39, Colson occupied the office next to the President of the United States. He was the "tough guy,"   of the Nixon White House, "the hatchet man,"  who could make the hard decisions. Yet in 1972, the Watergate scandal ruined his reputation and his world came unglued.  Later, he writes:

"I had been concerned with myself . I had done this and that. I had achieved, I had succeeded, and I had given God none of the credit, never once thanking Him for any of His gifts to me. I had never thought of anything being immeasurably superior to myself. Or if I had in fleeting moments thought about the infinite Power of God, I had not related Him to my life. 

Many can identify with Colson. It is easy to get caught in the fast pace of life and have little or no time for God. Yet ignoring God's gracious offer  of forgiveness has the same dire consequences as outright rejection. Our sin-debt would still remain unpaid.

 next post tomorrow