The ultimate choice

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. -Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

God gave the very children who were made in His image the most powerful check against even His saving power: free will. We were designed from the beginning to have it. God gives us the choice to willingly accept His loving sacrifice poured out into our lives…or the choice to turn away.

If you’re an unbeliever, the consequences of not choosing Him don’t seem real, because you don’t believe in Him and His works anyway. But the consequences are eternally real.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the stealth assignment of witnessing to my Buddhist father. God presented the opening, which was clear as day: my mother was frustrated phoning different care facilities, so I encouraged her to drive to the one she preferred nearby to discuss the matter in person. After she left, I started praying along with many other agents, and then went in.

His lungs were filling with fluid, and his coughs were terrible…like someone drowning. He called to me, so I came to him with a large print text of a plea for him to accept Jesus, followed by the sinner’s prayer. I watched his eyes scan the words from top to bottom. He continued to wheeze loudly, but didn’t utter a word. I asked him several times to read it aloud, but he wouldn’t.

I slowly read the prayer aloud to him, but still nothing. He nodded to me in the way I’ve seen him nod when he wants someone to stop annoying him. He then waved away the paper several times.

I don’t cry often, but this time, I sat down at the desk in his room and let my eyes well up. I thanked the Lord for giving me the opening, and I asked that the seed planted in his heart might have him accept Jesus before he departed this world. It’s not over yet.

When we fight spiritual battles, the fights aren’t our to win, but His. I followed God’s will to expose my father to Jesus, to that rope bridge over the abyss of hell, but only God knows whether he will cross it before he passes from this earth.

It’s naive to think that when we do things in God’s name and to His glory, that the outcomes we want will come to pass. And yet, God uses all of it to His glory, according to His will and timing. These are His promises that this agent is watching unfold before his eyes, though I only see a small part of it now.

Our fight is far from over, brothers and sisters in Christ. In my family alone, I believe this is just the beginning of a spiritual war which will continue for many years, till my mother passes–or accepts Jesus herself. But God commands us: we are not to be discouraged or afraid. We will have trouble in this world, but He has overcome it. We are to be unashamed of the Gospel.

Having done what I could in the mission field, I return home to continue the fight at home. As the first Christian in my family line, Jesus has broken the chain of unbelievers, and I will do my duty to Him in training my son up to follow Him.

We choose to live and breathe and fight for Him no matter the odds, because He secured the victory for us over 2000 years ago. Thank you, Lord Jesus.