May 27-28 – Our choice

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me ... When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” - John 15:9-11

Clifford Goldstein writes about a ficticious scientific genius – he called him Dr. Ralph. Obsessed with his work, he never married, had a family, or enjoyed any close loving ties since childhood. As he enters his last years, he's feeling the pain of a lonely and loveless existence, and so-being the genious that he is-he creates a robot that looks, acts, and feels just like a human being. He makes it into the image of a young beautiful woman that he names Carla. She caters to his every whim, desire, and need, including expressions and manifestations of love. Carla is everything that any man would ever desire, without any of the problems that any relationship would ever desire, without any of the problems that any relationship would normally encounter. Yet no matter how many times Carla tells Dr. Ralph she loves him, no matter all the things she does to express love, Dr. Ralph realises that, in the end, it means nothing, for no matter what Carla says or does, it cannot be true love, because he had programmed it in her.

Dr. Ralph was desperate to be loved, but he learned that love can't be forced, it has to be free, it can't be programmed, or be a wired reaction. It has to be a conscious action. God gave us the ability to choose for ourselves - even God Himself cannot force us to love, because He gave us the ability to make a choice. God doesn’t want us to obey him because we’re afraid of him. He doesn’t want us to obey him because we’re scared of punishment. God wants us to obey him because we have chosen to love. I believe it was Francis Schaeffer who said, “Without choice, the word love is meaningless.”

Every day of our lives we're faced with making choices - lifestyle choices. Rick Warren speaks of the day, in high school, one of the pupils went up to him and said, “You’re restricted.” Rick responded, “What do you mean?” He said, “Because you’re a Christian. You can’t do any of the fun stuff the rest of us do.”

Rick looked him in the eye and said, “I could take all the drugs I want to take. I could get stoned all I want to get stoned. I could drink all I want to drink. I could go to all the parties I want to go to. I could go to bed with as many women as I want.” But here’s the difference: Jesus changed my “want to.” I didn’t want to do those things then. I don’t want to do those things now. They are cheap, phony thrills that seem to give a temporary kick to life but then they kick back. They may look like freedom, but they don’t last, and they lead to despair, not dignity — depression, not delight.”

Rick had learned the importance of using his freedom to choose – a freedom that stood firm as a rock on his love for His Saviour – a Saviour who chose to die because of His love for us all.

Music today is “I am Loved” - LIVE. Click on the picture to listen.