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| TUESDAY | April 6 |
However much our natures changed after the fall of Adam and Eve, as humans we still have the power of choice. We still have free will. What we do with that free will is, really, entirely up to us. We can surrender to God and obey Him, or we can choose to go our own sinful way.
Read Hebrews 11:8–10. What does this tell us about Abraham and his choices? What can we learn from those choices?
Think of the incredible implications of these words. According to Jesus, the most important of all commandments wasn’t to keep the Sabbath, nor was it any of the prohibitions against killing, stealing, and adultery. On the contrary, the most important of all the commandments dealt with what was in our hearts, in our souls; it dealt with what is inside of us and not with our outward actions, however important they might be.
Indeed, if the most important commandment deals with our love to God, then the foundation of all the commandments deals with a relationship. After all, what is love if not a relationship—one in which we love God above and beyond everyone and everything else?
What were, however, some of the wrong choices that Abraham made? What were the consequences of those choices too? See Genesis 16; Gen. 21:9–14.
“Polygamy had become so widespread that it had ceased to be regarded as a sin, but it was no less a violation of the law of God, and was fatal to the sacredness and peace of the family relation. Abraham's marriage with Hagar resulted in evil, not only to his own household, but to future generations.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 145.
Read Daniel 1:8–16.The words “Daniel purposed in his heart” indicate that Daniel’s choice was both conscious and firm. The consequences of this deliberate and reasoned decision influenced the whole life of Daniel and occasioned his special blessing and attention by the Lord. Daniel re-affirmed his commitment to the Lord daily in his seasons of prayer and devotion.
It is one thing to say that we should make right choices; it is another to have the conviction of heart to do it. What are ways that we can program our minds so that we are more likely to make the right choices? Ps. 119:11, Phil. 4:8, Col. 3:2?.
In the end, we are free to choose for the Lord or free to choose against Him. There is no middle ground. We are on one side or the other. This doesn’t mean that we don’t make mistakes or fall (look at Abraham, for instance); it means, instead, that we must “purpose in our hearts” to seek to do God’s will, whatever the costs. We must “purpose in our hearts” to choose what is right, and what is right is what God commands us to do. What is important, one thing that we should never forget, is that if we fall, if we make the wrong choices, God does not cast us off. The danger, instead, is that we can feel so guilty, we can feel so bad, that we are in danger of giving up. In such cases, our only hope is to cast ourselves at the foot of the cross and claim the forgiveness offered in Jesus.
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