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                                     Choices: Part 1

                                              Jesus Chose to Go to the Cross   

Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed to the Father, “Not my will, but thine.” My Savior made the choice to follow God’s will. A perfect choice, resulting in salvation for all.

Choices have “results” or consequences. When have you made a choice, good or bad, that had an effect on your life and your family. You can go back to one choice that changed the course of your life.

I guess the first significant choice I made was, as an eleven-year-old, to accept Jesus as my Savior. I have shared (in my book) that I was later moved as a twenty-year-old newly wed to choose to make him the Lord of my life, however, in God’s generosity, I believe I made choices up to then that “followed God’s plan” or at least he blessed my choices.

When in High School, I was pressured by my counselors to go to college. I chose, to their chagrin, to go to work, even though I wanted to go to college (I ended up going as an adult.) My family, if not poor, was not wealthy and I felt like work was a better option for me.

I didn’t want to get married at nineteen, but I chose to marry Joe, mostly because I didn’t want him to marry anyone else.

I didn’t want children, but as a hugely pivotal point in my life, choosing to let Jesus be Lord of all, I said “What do you want Lord?” Most of you know how that turned out, starting with about a year of spiritual growth, then having twin girls, four more children in quick succession, now years later with fifteen grands and five great grands, truly, I know that choices matter!

Joe is now in ministry and does shows for children (and adults) with a strong emphasis on “choices,” followed by the Salvation message. One of his tricks features a bag of numbers that two children choose from. After going through one-five, with two of five panels saved for their choices, the others, a pile of rocks, an eaten apple core, and a crashed bicycle, not their choices. Did they choose well? He turns the two panels around and puts them together to reveal a picture of Jesus!

To choose Jesus, to choose to do God’s will, even if it’s hard or something you don’t want, this is what matters.

Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross, but he did because it was the Father’s will that he pay the price for our sins. Thank you, Lord!

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)

“People make choices, choices make people, you’re only one choice away from a new life.”

Ken Freeman, speaker at the Mission of Hope Banquet, 2025

                                                                                                                                Ctrl/Click this link to view Joe’s Choices trick:    https://youtu.be/4OV3Vn_KYBA

Art by Sarah McDonald Price 

Next month: Choices: Part 2