Ethics & Religion
Column #2,055
December 29, 2020
Christian Choices Matter
By Mike McManus
We are about to celebrate a New Year. A New Year typically prompts
people to make new Resolutions or choices. The world seems to say,
"Choose what feels good."
But the Word of God points in one clear direction - an eternal one. It
urges us to follow Him.
For example, the world says you can choose whatever gender you prefer.
Indeed, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages. It declared you
can choose whatever gender you want to marry.
However, God's word is clear. Jesus declared in Matthew 19:4: "Have you
not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and
female?"
The Word of God says marriage is between a man and a woman.
The culture states it's not a child. It's a choice. "That's
diametrically opposed to God, says an article in the evangelical
magazine, Decision. "How long will we vacillate between God's truth and
human opinion?"
Good question.
The New Year is an excellent time to stomp upon the notion that
everybody's opinion matters. It does not.
What matters is God's word. In I Kings 18:20-40, we read how the
prophets of Baal were worried as they gathered on Mount Carmel, about 10
miles from today's city of Haifa. About 450 of these pagan priests were
wailing, raving and even cutting themselves with swords and lances,
pleading with their gods to burn their sacrificial bull on a wooden
altar.
But their god was silent. Hour after hour they carried on, bleeding and
desperate, hoping against hope that there would be fire from heaven.
One man stood against them: Elijah, the Old Testament prophet. Unlike
the hundreds of Baal worshippers who were yelling loudly, Elijah knew he
could quietly wait upon the Lord. He even drenched the altar he had
prepared with water - three different times - so that when the Most High
consumed it with fire, there would be no mistake - that the God of
Israel was the true and living God.
Watching were thousands of Israelites, discerning a contest between
light and darkness. No doubt, they felt great anxiety. Would the pagan
god and his hysterical priests succeed? Would the God of Israel act?
Then Elijah prayed a simple, eloquent appeal that ended with these
words: "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that the people may know, that
you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back." (I
Kings 18:37).
With that, Elijah's altar burst into flames, and not only was the
sacrifice consumed by the fire, but so were the wood, stones, dust and
water.
In recent days, many of us have felt the anxiety similar to that of the
people surrounding Mount Carmel. What just happened in the Presidential
election? What will happen to many of the causes of Christians, from
defending unborn life to upholding religious liberty?
And how do we know what to believe, anyway? What, or whom can we trust?
Americans have made their choice in the election, an important choice.
But more important, we must choose whom we will follow and devote
ourselves to in worship.
How long will we limp between two diametrically opposed choices? Today
too many Christians are bouncing back and forth from the world's opinion
and the Word of God. Increasingly, what God's Word says and what the
world says are diametrically opposed.
In Matthew 19:4, Jesus asked, "Have you not read that he who created
them from the beginning made them male and female?" But the world says
you can choose your own gender. The Word of God says that marriage is
between a man and a woman.
Ignore what the Supreme Court says to the contrary.
What matters is the wisdom of God found in Scripture. Some Pharisees
asked Jesus if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and
every reason?
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that in the beginning the Creator 'made
them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one
flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has
joined together, let no man separate." (Matthew 19: 3-6).
That's God's wisdom from 20 centuries ago that still makes sense in
today's culture.
_________________________
Copyright (c) 2020 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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