Decisions determine the directions of our lives. Some of the most important decisions are made early in life when perhaps we are least able to do so, as we have not had much experience to make us wiser. Many of us were young people with Christadelphian parents and brought up in the Truth, and in that context faced the greatest challenge, whether to be baptised into Christ and be his disciples or not. This is the most important decision of our lives as it affects every other aspect, it predicates who we will marry, what career we will choose, our friends, values, morals and our aspirations.
“I am the way, the truth and the life”
Those of us who have chosen to follow Christ have weighed up the choices – we believed that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed prophet, priest and king, the only begotten Son of God, according to his claims and Scripture. This is a life-long commitment leading in the Father’s mercy to eternal life. No other choice we could have made could have rested on such sure foundations nor offered such a wonderful prize.
The failure of young people to make this commitment can have disastrous results. It’s so easy to become ‘stuck in a rut’, to be influenced by worldly entertainment, to be ensnared in fleshly lusts from which it is nigh impossible to extricate oneself. This is why “friendship [with] the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). Never before has there been a time so alluring to the young – a time which promises so much – but the ‘pleasures’ are specious, transient, and will leave those so led astray with ashes in their mouths. Life is a ‘long time’, and to leave the straight and narrow path for the broad way of the multitude, will in the end, bring remorse, regret and ruin.
Solomon had good advice for the young when he said, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Eccl 11:9).
The Bible and life’s biggest questions
The Bible is God’s Word, true, inspired and infallible. It explains for us in a satisfactory way the big questions that naturally we would want answered, like: Is there a God? Has He a plan with man and the earth? What does He want me to do to please Him? What is His character? And there are others. It is not possible to answer these questions without a knowledge of the Bible. The Bible gives us a progressive revelation of God’s purpose. The three great promises involving the coming “seed”, find their confirmation in the birth of the Son of God (Rom 15:8).
By reading the Gospel records of Jesus’ life, his teachings, parables, and miracles we can learn more about his Father, our Creator. Of him the Apostle Paul says, “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). This is an unqualified and absolute statement. It means that there is no wisdom in any course of life that ignores him, or leaves him out of account; there is no essential truth outside of him.
What did our Lord say about choices?
In one of his most notable statements on how to live and make choices he said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt 6:33). Here he rationalises what our choice, our priority, should be. It boils down to two things: the Kingdom of God and His (God’s) righteousness. So if we want to enter the Kingdom of God our present life should have this as its focus: we must learn about it, talk about it, preach it and have our hopes set in it. And what about “his righteousness”, that is, God’s righteousness, and ourselves? When we believe and are baptised into Christ our sins are forgiven and we are accounted righteous in the eyes of God: as Paul put it in his own case, “that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil 3:8–9). In the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ the Lord pronounced a blessing on those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness, but warned that righteousness in God’s eyes was not that of the scribes and Pharisees, based on law-keeping (Matt 5:6, 20). The Lord set out the attitudes and actions that are acceptable to God. Seeking “first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness” epitomises the disciple’s life.
Two paths and two destinations
The Bible has much to say about the consequences of our actions and what will befall us. It does this in no uncertain terms so that we are left in no doubt. The whole of Deuteronomy is devoted to exhorting Israel not to forsake Yahweh and turn to other gods. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut 30:19). Joshua likewise set before the people their choices in stark terms: “choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served … but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh” (Josh 24:15). Jeremiah also appealed to his generation to surrender and “serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?” (27:17). It is God’s desire that His people should live: He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. In another beautiful statement in Jeremiah He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (RSV Jer 29:11).
Proverbs also warns us by drawing our attention to the end of those “whose ways are crooked, and they froward [RSV devious] in their paths”; “the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out” (2:15, 22).
At the end of Luke 9 we have the record of ‘the three enquirers’. Clearly they were pondering the cost of following Jesus as his disciples. The first said, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest” (v57). It was a large, perhaps impulsive claim. Did he really comprehend the enormity of the commitment? Reminding him that foxes have holes, and birds, nests, but the Son of Man has no permanent place of rest, he underlines the extent of such a commitment.
Another was invited to follow Jesus, but he prioritised burying his father (v59). Important as such a duty might be, it had to be put in second place; preaching the kingdom of God transcended it.
The third expressed the desire to follow, but he, too, made what on the surface appeared to be a perfectly reasonable request: “let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house” (v61). After all, had not Elijah permitted Elisha so to do? (1 King 19:20). But a greater than Elijah had come: Jesus replied, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (v62).
These answers of Jesus graphically tell us how important it is to put the things of God first in our lives. Being a disciple of Jesus is the greatest honour and privilege in the world. All other callings, interests, occupations, pale into insignificance by comparison: they fade, are temporal, having no eternal dimension (2 Cor 4:18).
Age can help us see more clearly
When young, handsome, energetic and able-bodied, life holds out many prizes we may be eager to grasp. Careers and goals are pursued and ambitions achieved. They can take up a lot of mind-space, time and energy. However with the passage of time what was once pleasurable can become a burden, and as a consequence values change. What I am saying is that years help us to work out what is important and what is not. Without the hope of the Kingdom and eternal life, old-age would be a scary, daunting prospect. So many have nothing to look forward to and are looking down a dark hole.
How different it is for those who love God and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: for them there is the prospect of glory, honour and immortality (Rom 2:7). It sometimes takes a long time to realise that life’s pursuits apart from Christ are vanity; as Solomon said, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl 1:2). Also after ending his quest for the ‘chief good’ for man he said, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or … evil” (Eccl 12:13–14).
“One thing is needful”
One touching incident in our Lord’s life crystallised the whole issue of priorities. Mary was sitting at the feet of our Lord in rapt attention, letting not a word fall to the ground. Her sister Martha was busy serving the needs of all. She ventured to draw the Lord’s attention to her need, and Mary’s failure to render due help. The Lord’s answer is notable, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:39–42). Martha needed to learn that what we can do for Christ is not as important as to recognise what he can do for us. In the circumstances, with the Son of God, the greatest teacher ever, in the home, Mary had made the right choice.
Here is a lesson for us amidst the hustle and bustle of busy lives. Hearing the voice of the Master, sitting at his feet listening is the “one thing that is needful”: all else is secondary.