WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE TODAY?
Mark 3:27-29 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.
Freedom is something that all people yearn for at least in their heart. We are fortunate here in the United States to have a freedom that many in the world only hope for. Yet freedom without restraint can be very dangerous. The very serious crimes we see and fear come from freedom. The more tightly bound people are the less opportunity they have to do things that they shouldn't be doing. But without freedom not only is the individual stifled and will be robbed of blessings, but nations and even the entire earth will be also.
What gives the greatest opportunity for blessing can also bring the greatest sorrow. Some wonder why God ever created us with a free will. Others wonder why God gave an opportunity to do bad things or sin. God could have given Adam and Eve a free will, but not had the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why not just make it so that we could choose between good, better and best! The reason for free will from God’s perspective was all about love. God loved us and he wanted us to be able to love him in return. What kind of love would it be if something was made to love you and it had not choice? It wouldn’t really be love at all would it? Love as God made it is a very special gift to us. When God created us in his image, love was a major factor in it. When we love and can receive love in return, we experience what few other of God’s creation can. Yet, so often we fail to love. Why is it? Love is so closely tied to our free will that we can easily miss use it just like we do our freedom. We can use it to influence, punish, reward, threaten, manipulate and much more. While so much good can come from love, so can much bad come from the way we use it. Because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God’s will in the garden, humanity has had the carnal nature passed down from them generation after generation. It continually cries out for our will to be done in every area of our life. From our youth we are taught or at least led to believe that we can and must master it. How many times have our mothers reminded us of the Golden Rule in the Bible that tells us, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you?” In other words show a little love!
But as hard as we try the carnal nature within all of us rears up it’s ugly head and shouts I want my will or you will pay! The carnal nature can be controlled to an extent, but sooner or later you know you can expect. It is just like with cancer or any disease. All of it must be killed or destroyed , because if it isn't it will only return and be worse. The same is true with the carnal nature.
Only God can set us free of our carnal nature as we see in Romans chapters 7 and 8. As good as our doctors and modern medicine may be they can not cut out what they can not see. Only the Holy Spirit can do this for us. Like our salvation, the new birth has to come through the Holy Spirit. While Jesus made possible our forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God, it is the Holy Spirit that brings to us prevenient grace. It is this unmerited favor that reaches out to us to not only help us to want to be a Christian, but to do God’s will. The Holy Spirit can come within us and set us free of our carnal nature, so we will passionately want to do God’s will. When don’t do it, we find our hearts broken because of our lack of self-control or our humanity. The difference is the tap root that demands our will to be done has been extracted from us like a old bad tooth.
When we resist the Holy Spirit’s work of helping us to become a Christian, we have cut off the tap root that is our only means to Jesus’ salvation and Christ-likeness. This of course includes being set free of our carnal nature. This brings us right back to our free will doesn’t it? We can choose the tree of life in Jesus and live, or we can follow our carnal nature and choose to reject the Holy Spirit's call and find ourselves in eternal sin.
We must bind the strong man in our life. This is our free will. We must control our free will to make the right choice. It is not like we can’t choose Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to have his will in our life. The thing is we don’t want to get off our throne and give it to the Lord. This is why Joshua’s declaration to Israel was no little thing when he said, “Who will you choose today? As for me and my household, we will choose the Lord!” Joshua was saying are you going to control your free will or will it control you?
If you reject the help of the Holy Spirit you will never be set free from sin or the carnal nature in your life. Satan will tell you that your self will can control things, but he is a liar. If it could why do you and millions of others through time continued to use freedom to do wrong? There is only one way and that is God’s way to bind the strong man (carnal nature) in our life and it is God’s way. What will you choose today? If you want real freedom, you need to choose God’s way. You need to ask the Holy Spirit to help you become a Christian, and be set free of your carnal nature. Remember the only reason that is keeping you from this is your free will.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank you for helping us to be a Christian by convicting us of our sin, the righteousness of Christ and the judgment of God. Thank you for setting us free of our carnal nature, and coming into our heart to help us to become more Christ-like. We love you Holy Spirit.
