I'd be the first to admit that I make a lot of poor decisions.  For example, take drinking milk without reading the date.  That is certainly a mistake I pray I will only have to make once.  But even with the more important decisions (while one could argue the later can be quite important) it seems that time and time again, contrary to Robert Frost, I choose the road more traveled. 

 

In Proverbs there is a phrase that is repeated over and over again that says "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Prov 14:21)  It is amazing how that one word can change the entire meaning of a phrase - "seems."  There is a way that seems right.  So often we make choices on what seems best to us or what we want.  But Jesus Christ calls us to follow Him.  He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).  While, as Proverbs says, there is a way that seems right to a man, Jesus proclaims that there is no way except through Him.  And yet amidst temptation and our own desires, we often choose that which seems right yet leads to death.

 

As I sat and pondered this idea, I imagined that rejecting God was like dragging myself through mud.  And as I would realize my fault, I would come running back to the Lord to be washed and clensed in the grace and mercy of repentence.  But I began to realize that it is more than that.  This idea only showed that I was affecting myself, and that God merely waited for me to turn to Him.  That is not the picture we see in the gospels.  Jesus was the one who was flogged.  He was the one who was mocked, humiliated, beaten, and drug through the mud and yet I consider my sin my own?  It was my sin that put Jesus on the cross.  My decisions to reject God that drove the nails into His hands.

 

A sobering thought, no doubt...  But praise be to God the story doesn't end there.  In the darkest hour of the world; in the most difficult time, the Lord reigned victorious over death.  Not my poor decisions, not my own lusts and desires, not my sins, not even the sins of this world could hold Jesus Christ in the grave.  On the third day after His death, Christ rose from the grave.  "Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39)  

 

So, will I still make mistakes?  Will I still choose the road more traveled?  Absolutely.  But I pray that I would never forget the price Jesus Christ payed for me.  That He, blameless and pure, would be mocked, ridiculed, and beaten, for my sins.  And in that mindset may I strive all the harder to submit myself to His will for the glory of His kingdom.  But in closing, I just want to leave you with the first verse and chorus of a song that really is the sum of it all.  May we be humbled by God's mercy, broken by his saving grace, and thankful for His sacrifice that we might have life and have it abundantly.  To God be the glory forever and ever, amen.

 

Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing
Poured out to death
Many times, I've wondered at your gift of life
I'm in that place once again
I'm in that place once again

Chorus:
And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life

Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross
Thank you for the cross, my friend

 

Thankful For the Cross,

Erich Roscher