Choosing Jesus!

Last night I took the time to watch a movie called Six, an interesting depiction of the Last days and the mark of the beast. And although the whole movie was quite interesting and very well made, the one thing which truly impacted me and which I have not been able to stop thinking about is the choice that the many that were captured had to make within a short period of time. These prisoners had thirty days through which they were subjected to torture, psychological trauma, and all possible persuasion to force them to choose to receive the mark of the beast, at the end of those thirty days, if they had not accepted the mark they were decapitated, and the rest of the prisoners where forced to watch the execution.

What is interesting about this, is that in this place most people were Christians, and each one of those who had chosen Jesus were eagerly awaiting the day of their execution, while rejoicing and chanting and praising God.

The rest of the prisoners called them crazy, and referred to the prison as a place of madness.

This theme has stirred up my spirit so strongly I cannot stop thinking about the choice, and about the madness, and about those whose heads were cut off and about those who chose instead to receive the mark and live.

And I wonder, given a choice like this, how many of us Christians would receive with joy the news that we will die for Christ. How many of us Christians would actually sing and praise God, and how many of us would simply deny Jesus in order to stay alive.

Let us forget for a minute the fact that in this movie the rapture had already taken place and that the people we are dealing with are those who were left behind; and let us place ourselves in the times of Nero, when thousands of Christians where given the choice to deny Jesus, and those who did not where used as food for the Lions and tigers in the coliseums, or used as target practice for the gladiators, or hung to crosses along the roads of Rome.

But let us not go so far into the past or into the future, and let us be placed in the present, in India or Iran or Iraq or many parts of Africa, where so many Christians are subjected today to the same dilemma...

How many of us would actually prefer to die than to deny Jesus?

I am afraid speaking of faithfulness is overrated at a point like this, and as we face such reality, we must come to grip with our inner conviction, with the true significance of salvation, as in the face of such choice there is no past present of future, there is no life or death situation, there is just a choice to make, and this choice determines whether we truly are Christians, whether we truly believe in God and eternal life, whether we truly believe in Jesus and in His promises. "For whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:33)

When it is all reduced to facing the truth, all bets are off, there is not better or worse, bigger or smaller, richer or poorer, black or white, slave or free. It is just Jesus or no Jesus.

And this is very important because one day sooner or later we all, and I need to emphasize this word; All, everyone, those who do and those who do not call themselves Christians, We will all at some point have to make that choice.

It does not matter whether right now we believe it or not, whether we think we are truly faithful to Christ or we call ourselves atheists. Everyone at some point in their lives will face this truth.

I can state boldly today that in a given situation in which I had to make such choice, I would obviously choose Jesus. If I was told at gunpoint to deny the Christ or die I would definitely prefer to die than to reject the author of salvation. Then again while I am saying this I do not have a gun being pointed at my head, and neither do you just yet.

For while I believe in my heart and soul I would prefer to die than to deny Jesus, there is only one who really knows what choice I would make. Of course we are not submitting here the answer to a fair analysis.

But for the sake of curiosity, ask yourself this question.

What choice would you make?

Please if you do not call yourself a Christian, do not answer that question just yet!

Rev. Jose A. Luna
A servant of Christ Jesus
July 25, 2010

http://casadesalvacion.blogspot.com, http://www.casadesalvacion.com