You Must Choose

 There are several places where the phrase is repeated in popular culture. I can hear the phrase echo in different voices, you must choose. 

Palpatine tells Anakin to choose the Jedi or the Sith. 

The knight tells Indiana Jones he must choose the right grail. 

The Architect tells Neo that he must choose to save Zion or Trinidy. 

In the original Spider-Man with Toby McGuire, Green Goblin tells him that some villain will come along with "a sadistic choice". He can save Mary Jane, or an elevator car full of school kids.

These are just a few examples that pop into my head, and choice is a pretty big deal. As a Wovenist (you can read Biblical and Evangelical Calvinist), I acknowledge that God calls us, that God does the work of salvation, and God ordains who is to be saved, but this does not negate the choice of man. (If this seems contradictory, please go back and read some of my posts on Wovenism, time, and the works of salvation). God created man with a choice. Obey and walk with me, or eat the fruit.

We have confused things in our modern day, and there seems to be a plurality of choices. There isn't. It really comes down to two choices, Trust God or trust yourself. In reality, every world religion is based upon human works. There are rules, laws, rituals, rights, duties, and obligations. In every world religion, man does work to get to god. In the Christian faith, God came to man in the person of Jesus. He died to redeem mankind of sin. We are offered the gift, we respond in faith, and are saved by the work of Jesus. It is not by work, effort, ritual, or law. We are saved by grace through faith.

It is pretty simple, who do you trust? Do you trust yourself to get it right? Do you trust yourself to keep the laws of God, to work and earn your way into eternity? Do you have the ability to please God by your own effort? Can you stand before God and demand Him to allow you into Heaven because of how good you have been? Can you do all that is required to get to Heaven? I am confident that I cannot, but I know that Jesus can. I can choose to trust Him, and allow Him to do the things in me I can't do for myself. I can't, but He can. He will and I have faith that I will spend eternity with Him.