We all have the will to choose

Pastor Don Porter

Time does tell. Mark 8:36-37 says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” A while ago, I ran into a guy who I once hung out with in school. I hadn’t seen him in 25 years. He called to say that he was coming to hear me speak, so we arranged to meet beforehand. As we talked, he told me he had been married twice and was presently divorced. Then he said, “I basically drank my marriages away.” He went on to explain that he had started drinking when he was young and basically had never stopped. At first he could control when he drank and how much but soon it controlled him. He said it had ruined his life. Unfortunately, I have heard this same story over and over again. Sometimes it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling or something else. People start off drinking, taking drugs or gambling as a release from their life. Soon, instead of getting the release they wanted they find they are hooked on what they have turned to. When we were young this friend and I used to hang out and party together, but he never left that lifestyle. I left it at the age of 35. I told him that without the help of Jesus I would never have been able to stay sober for all these years. So he asked, “That may have worked for you but how can I find this help?” I told him, you know, in the Bile, God says, “If you will seek Me, you will find Me.” But he said, “You can quote your book and I will quote mine, and I am in a fellowship too. . .I’m in a 12-step program.” That’s good, I said, but isn’t the first step of the program that you have to accept that there is someone greater than you? And isn’t that someone God the Creator? He said, “But I don’t want to give up control of my life.” When he said this I was reminded of the Bob Dylan song, ‘Serve Somebody’. In the song the lyrics remind all of us that in this life we will all have to serve somebody. If not God, then the Devil. I told him if you don’t give control of your life to God then you will end up giving control of your life to something. . alcohol, drugs, gambling, someone or something else. As I look at the course his life has taken and the course my life has taken, it is clear who really gave up the most. There might be times as a Christian when you look at unbelievers and think, I don’t know. Maybe they are having the good time and I am not. It might look like they are having fun today, but there is a price for sin. The Bible says, “the wages of sin are death.” You will reap what you sow. If you live for Christ, if you determine to do things God’s way, you won’t regret it. Because you won’t find happiness or fulfillment through gambling, drugs or drinking. You won’t find it through relationships, successes, possessions or accomplishments. You can only find the happiness and fulfillment you are looking for in life through a relationship with Jesus Christ. So in the words of Bob Dylan and Joshua, “choose this day whom you will serve.”