(unmarked journal entry – presumably matthew 26)

it’s easy to read the chapters at the end of the Gospel narratives and think that ‘things have been set in motion now. there’s no turning back.’ and that would seem true. but really, there was never any turning back from the get-go. these events that we see in the NT weren’t just being set in motion. they had been moving that way since the prophets had spoken the words concerning Him, and even before that… you know that if you look back to the garden of eden, you can see this coming, and that God begins speaking of it then.

we need to be mindful of God’s work when it comes to each and every aspect of our own lives. you may not feel like a prophet has laid out the course of your life for all to see, but really it has been. Jesus spoke very clearly and directly about how we were to live in order to follow Him. the apostles and other disciples that wrote later also made a declaration on how we would live, how we should live and what needed to happen for us to live that God-honoring life.

it has been set in motion. so we must ask if we are praying, alongside Jesus, ‘not my will, Father, but Yours be done.’

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of course we have every possibility of steering off of this path that has been laid out before us. but with Jesus as our example, we see that He made a point of doing things so that Scripture would be fulfilled. (think John the Baptist & “let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.“) Jesus knew what Scripture said He would do, so He made a point of doing just that…we know what Scripture says we should do, so we should make a point of doing just that, as we saw from Jesus Christ.

i am not a proponent of a robotic, predestination theology. but i do believe that when we come across the choices that life presents us, we have been given a prescribed response that glorifies God. it is up to us to follow through with those actions, and either honor God or draw attention to ourselves. it’s kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure book. we come to a crossroads, and we must choose from two or three options. each one will lead us in a different direction, but not all of them will work out toward the ‘happy ending.’

we know what we are supposed to do. the question is, is being faithful to God for the sake of being faithful and giving Him glory enough for us? or do we seek our own prideful ends? the answers to every question have been laid out for us, and we simply need to seek first God’s will, His kingdom plan and watch how things that were set in motion so long ago play out.

life is choice.

choices have consequences.

chose wisely.