Quote from Forum Archives on July 23, 2001, 11:45 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

As Neil so effectively points out today, it is so easy to make
incorrect choices. When faced with only one bad choice, Adam and
Eve managed to make that choice. Joshua was thoroughly committed
to God, and he certainly stood for God. Even as we read how
Joshua stood as one who sought the "Promised Land", even he made
wrong choices.

What is the point? To me, it is very clear. On my own, I will
inevitably make incorrect choices. The more I choose to be on my
own, the more incorrect choices I am likely to make. Is there a
solution to this obvious problem?

Praise God (and I do), there is One solution. The solution is a
person. That person is Jesus Christ. He did it all for us.
First, He paid the price for our incorrect choices. Those
"incorrect choices", sins, do have a price. The price: death.
Jesus, the One without sin, became sin on our behalf, bore sin's
penalty (death), died, but rose triumphantly from death.
Therefore, we needn't be burdened by sin. But we needn't
sin continuously, either. We are freed, both from the penalty of
sin and from the burden of continuously sinning. We also have
the assurance of forgiveness when we do sin, provided we do two
things: confess our sin and turn away from it.

Not only did Jesus, by what He did, free us from sin's penalty,
the example of how He lived also provides us with the perfect
model of obedience to God and humility before both God and men.
So even as we struggle with our fleshly bodies and our tendency
to sin, Jesus provides us an example of how to live right, and
forgiveness when we fail to measure up. These are gracious,
loving provisions, not to be minimized, perverted, or ignored.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the provisions of Jesus Christ, in who He is, what
He has done, and how He exemplifies You in every way. Please
guide my every thought and action today, for I realize how easy
it is to slip away and make choices that do not honor You.
Forgive me for my lack of consideration, particularly knowing the
gracious provision You have made. Your love is so amazing. I
praise You for Your wondrous love, today and every day. Amen.

Brother Brian

Today's message comes from Neil Anderson.
Reply-to: Neil Anderson <neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com>
Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Monday, July 23, 2001

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N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

July 23

THE POWER TO CHOOSE

Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve... As for me
and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15).

Adam and Eve's sin also affected the area of their will. Do you
realize that in the Garden of Eden they could only make one wrong
choice? Everything they wanted to do was okay except eating from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16, 17).
They had the possibility of making a myriad of good choices and
only one bad choice--only one!

Eventually, however, they made that one bad choice. As a result,
you and I are confronted every day with a myriad of good and bad
choices. You can choose to pray or not pray, read your Bible or
not read your Bible, go to church or not go to church. You can
choose to walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit.
You and I face countless choices like that every day, and we
eventually make some bad ones.

Other than the Holy Spirit in your life, the greatest power you
possess is the power to choose. Someone has said that pure
Christianity lies in the exercise of the will. The animal kingdom
operates out of divine instinct. But we are created in the image
of God, which means we have a self-operated, independent will.
The essence of temptation is to function independently of God.
The basis for temptation is legitimate needs.

Sinful behavior is often a wrong attempt at meeting your basic
needs. The real issue here is are you going to get your needs met
by the world, the flesh and the devil, or are you going to allow
God to meet your needs "according to His riches in glory in
Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)? It's an issue of identity and
maturity. The more you understand your identity in Christ, the
more you will grow in maturity. And the more mature you become,
the easier it will be for you to choose to live your life in
dependence on your heavenly Father.

Lord, I determine to exercise my great power of choice to live in
moment-by-moment dependence on You today.

-----------
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Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
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