OPTIONS

By John Stallings

In 1957, I stood in my father’s church in Orlando Florida.


It was my last service for awhile in my home church. I was leaving for Bible College the next day.

I went to the alter that night in response to a call for students who were leaving for school. We stood as the church offered a prayer for all of us. I will never forget that night. I was eighteen years old and about to leave home for the first time for an extended stay. However, leaving home wasn’t my real concern that evening.

The real issue of my heart was the commitment I was about to make. Up to now I had gone to church and lived a Christian life pretty much as a normal course of things. I had gotten along just fine. I had dated Christian girls, had good Christian friends & I’m sure being a church kid had kept me out of a lot of trouble. But now I was looking at something else; something very different. I was about to embark on a course of schooling that would fence me in as far as where I could go & what I could do with my life.

I felt I had a call to the Ministry & had actually been preaching since I was fifteen.

This night however, what I felt was different. I was wavering a little bit. Was I actually going to make this my life’s choice? Once I started studying in Bible College, this was going to be the education for my life’s work. Now things were getting serious. The choice I was making now would affect whom I would marry, the kind of car I’d drive & the house I’d live in. It would effect how much money I’d make and the friends I’d have for the rest of my life.

Since I’ve been in the Ministry now for over fifty years I know I made the right decision. I’m grateful that moment of truth turned into a wonderful life’s choice. But on that night in 1957, I was in the valley of decision. All kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. All kinds of options presented themselves and clambered for attention. But I wasn’t the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last to ever be faced with a dilemma like this.

In John 6:66-71, Jesus was ministering to a large crowd and while He was in the process of preaching, his crowd started to leave. He was preaching to them about total commitment to Him. He was saying it involved the symbolic eating of His flesh and drinking of his blood. In one way, it was a rather gruesome discourse & it showed in the response. He was quickly losing His crowd.

As people were leaving, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked “are you going to leave also?” Then Peter spoke up, as he so often did & said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. He was saying, - "Lord, we’ve seen too much, we’ve seen you heal the sick, raise the dead, & walk on the water. We’ve looked around & checked our options and listened to other teachers but no one else is talking about eternal life. "

Much the same kind of quandary the disciples felt was happening to me that night in 1957 when I had that gut wrenching soul- searching experience. Yes, there were other options for me as a young man but I had seen up-close, the reality of serving Jesus & the difference it made in a life. I’d seen people leave the Church & go out into the world & return, bruised, battered & beaten. After a detour into a life of sin I’d seen them stand with tears in their eyes explaining how they’d drifted away from God & were almost destroyed. I’d seen people’s lives wrecked by sin and then seen God turn it all around for them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what sin does to lives. I knew this very well.

I was quiet aware that a life without Jesus was a life mis-spent. However, I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say that there are options to serving Jesus. During my wavering I’d been presented with many of them. The entire world knows that Christianity has as its symbol a man hanging on a cross. Christianity has been called the bloody religion. It offends many people so much that in some places songs about the blood of Jesus have been expunged from song books.

This was the problem that day so long ago that caused the people to turn from Jesus. Eat his body, drink his blood? Really? So they left to find a more comfortable, palatable set of religious teachings. They wanted, before they committed to Christianity, to check out the options. Those so- called alternatives are still there today, so let’s take a look at a few of them. The Bible also calls them “strange fires.” It’s interesting that in the Bible, God’s power is symbolized by fire and false teachings are called;


STRANGE FIRE

Leviticus 10:1&2 tells about strange fire that men offered up to God that He didn’t accept. “And Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense fire thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord.”

That’s how God looks at these religious substitutes or options. Remember the first commandment; Thou shalt have no other God’s before me?” The first strange fire is;

GOOD WORKS!

Just live a good life, that’s all it takes to save you. I have an elderly acquaintance that I walk with at a Mall I sometimes go to for exercise. He’s a retired judge & I often talk to him about spiritual things & try to answer any questions he has.

The good judge is very frustrated with Christianity. He says, “Look John, I try to be a good man, that’s all I can do. If I pass a cripple & he has a pan out for money, I always give money. I don’t lie, cheat or steal. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a good man. And then I turn on T.V & the preachers are saying that all my good works are worth nothing.” I explain to him that Christianity teaches something entirely different than just being good. We’re saved by putting our faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is a living relationship with a living savior. It seems that the gospel is too simple for this man & he stumbles over that simplicity.

The Bible tells us that our good works can’t get us into heaven. Revelation 14:13 Says, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from hence forth. Yea for they do rest from their labors and their works do follow them.” Our good works are important but they don’t lead us to heaven, they follow us.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 says, “By grace are ye saved by faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”

But people even in our spiritually enlightened age still think that if they do good they’ll end up in a good place & if they do bad they’ll end up in a bad place. The feeling still exists that says “if I try to be good I’m O.K.” Using a baseball analogy, good works, as far as their ability to save us are like a high fly ball hit into the hands of a center fielder: it looks great but it means nothing. In other words we keep doing good but never quite measure up in Gods eyes. This then is the “good works option.” Another strange fire or option is;

FALSE RELIGION

We have Scientology, Unity, Spiritism, E.S.P, Transcendental Mediation, Mind control, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Self realization, Unification church, Witchcraft, Satan worship, U. F. Ology, Black Muslims, Free masonry, Hare Krishna, Pantheism, Islam, Palm readers, All Eastern religions, Astrological signs, plus many more. All these are strange fires/options.

The problem with all these religions is that they too are all performance based; based on good works. Some think if you say so many prayers you are on your way to earning salvation. Some say if you adopt children that can help get you to heaven. Some build hospitals and care for the sick as a means of working their way to heaven. All of that is obviously good but can’t buy salvation.

In Acts 4:12 Scripture says;

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The Bible is very clear on the matter of what it takes to go to heaven. Let’s look at the strange fire of;

REINCARNATION

Reincarnation says we are constantly re-born and keep coming back in other forms. However, the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “It is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment.” There you have it, according to God’s Word we get only one life on earth, & then we are judged. Then there’s the strange fire of;

MORAL FREEDOM

Some people say, “I’ll just throw off all restraints and be free. Yeah, that’s the answer, freedom.” In 2 Timothy, 3:4 the Bible says:

“In the last days men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God”

This sounds a lot like our day. The problem with moral freedom is that sin has a binding nature. The people I’ve seen try the freedom route have ended up in chains of bondage. Bob Dylan wrote a song on this subject, - “You gotta serve somebody.” How true that is.

Christ doesn’t bind us He frees us. Galatians 5:1 says” Stand fast in the liberty where in Christ has made you free and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.” Jesus Christ alone can give the kind of freedom our souls yearn for.

Another strange fire is;

NEW AGE OR NEW BEGINNINGS

This teaching says, all you need to do is start over. Get a new spouse, a new house, new kids, & a new town. If you can just get out of your environment you’ll solve your problems. All you really need is a good vacation. But the problem with that is that we keep taking our miserable selves every where we go. Wherever we go, there we are. No matter how many changes you make it’s the same old you. There has to be a heart change.

Man can dabble in many mystic movements that are out there but none have the power to change him. Imagine a man who starts to slow down physically and lose all his strength. His hands can’t grip anything, they are too weak. His feet & legs are getting too weak to walk. His eyes are getting weak & blurry and finally he goes to the doctor. The doctor checks him out and says, “Well sir, it’s your heart.” The man argues with the doctor, telling him it’s not his heart, it’s his hands; it’s his feet, & his eyes. But the doctor says “sir I’m sorry, your heart is failing & you must have a new one.” That man would then have to be put in line to wait for a new heart. If the operation was successful, the bill will be astronomically high.

Spiritually, we are all born in need of a new heart for we are all born sinners. The only answer is to come as a child, confess our sins to God & receive by faith a new heart & a new life in Christ. It’s that simple. That’s why the Gospel is called good news. And best of all its free. Maintenance on our new heart however will involve daily exercise, preferably knee exercises.

Then there is the strange fire of;

HALF-HEARTED COMMITMENT!

This option says, “I’m not going to abandon the faith but neither am I selling all out for Christ.” I don’t intend to be a religious nut. I want comfortable Christianity. After all, you don’t have to be all that religious to go to heaven.” Well, you don’t need religion but you do need Christ to go to heaven. If you could do part of it yourself, you’d be your own co-Savior.

But what good is a half hearted anything? Would you want to watch a half hearted team play football? No! You want to see a man who takes five yards to fall down when they tackle him, don’t you? Would we send up a half hearted Astronaut on the space shuttle? Would you go to a half hearted doctor? Of course not.

Christ has said that to follow him we must be willing to give up everything else & let Him be the single focus of our lives. He has also promised that if we do that, He’ll add to our lives all the abundance we need to live the greatest, most fulfilling life a person can experience on this earth. When you take a good look at all the strange fires & so called options, you soon know that only Jesus can offer you real joy in this life & the life to come.

One last fire the world has to offer is the;

NO FIRE OPTION.

The Hindu answer is to kill all fire & passion. Just get all blanked out & have no feelings towards anything. Do it with drugs, meditation or whatever works. The problem with that is, man needs some kind of fire in his life. God made us that way. We need passion. We are drawn to it like a moth to the flame. We will have fire. Life for us would be unbearable & intolerable without fire. Indeed to man, to have no passion is almost the same as death. God understands this & that’s why we read in Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.”

God’s fire is the only fire that purges & cleanses us & gives power over all the devices of Satan.

Multitudes have tried to satisfy the soul by purchasing things & staying busy & a myriad of other substitutions. It doesn’t work. People all over the world are looking for a “god” to fill the void of their lives.

The fact is, without God, life is exactly as Solomon described it in Ecclesiastes 1, vanity & emptiness. Pleasure, education, a job, wealth, these alone can never give meaning to life.

People are trying different solutions but there is only one answer. Are you seeking something real?

This is a time when the economic circumstances are causing us to consider our lives. If you’ve trusted in “things” in the past I invite you to leave them behind & trust in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can satisfy the soul. He’s the only real option. He said;

….I am come that they might have life & that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10



Blessings,


John



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