Bonnie J Martin

choice

50/50 Shot

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I don’t know why, when created-being serpent was formed, he was allowed to wreak havoc in Eden. He didn’t get to choose the forbidden for us. He didn’t have a say in the choice that was made. He made an offer and we chose. He lied. He spoke against the very thing the Creator had warned against.

Heart racing, knowing the situation was going against the very thing we were told to avoid. Don’t do it. It will not have the consequences you expect. The consequences will be harsh. You will have to live with them for the rest of your life. One wrong choice will bring a lifetime of heartache. Blood rushing through her ears as she reached up from all the beauty and goodness God had placed in and around her and she touched darkness. She felt it and saw it and smelled it and tasted it, hearing the lies and ignoring the cry of God.

God saw it happening. He had given her free-reign to go and do whatever her heart desired. Run free. Uninhibited. No fear. No hiding. The ability to choose whatever was pleasing to her. And in that moment she chose to turn away from God. In that moment, she died to the lavishing love of her Creator.

Afraid and naked, hiding in the trees from the One who sees and knows everything, heart still racing, the consequences begin. Separation from Creator. Attempting to hide shame from the very One who told you not to do it.

We chose the forbidden over the best. Decided to take the offering, believing the lies from someone other than the One who has always provided the best options, extravagant abundance, unending grace, ceaseless mercy.

With all the love that has and will ever exist, God, looked and created and breathed life into us, into you, into me, into Adam and Eve, and decided to let us decide. Free-will. The choice to choose. Desiring relationship, perfect fellowship, dwelling in perfect harmony, united, He desired us. Wanted us to choose Him.

He offered Adam and Eve the perfect home. He lavished them with luxury. They had everything furnished for them. No striving. No struggles. No disease. No tight joints. No skin conditions. The perfect temp all the time. The most comfortable place ever.

But they thought He was holding something back from them. And He was. Death and separation. He held back the hurting and disease. He kept them from struggles. Until they wanted more than His perfect provision.

And they chose the dangling fruit touted to give wisdom. Despite their perfect position as benefactors of the Most High, they chose the path leading to strife and struggle.

Two choices. You have a 50/50 shot. Go right or go left. Go up or go down. Choose good or bad. Want the perfect temp or burning hot? Choose eternal peace or eternal turmoil. Choose fellowship or division. Choose oneness or separation. Grace or enmity. Mercy or justice.

And our choice now is no different than Eve’s. No different than Adam’s. Choose the low road where the slithering serpent slips into darkness and entices us to follow with promises of pleasure and prosperity that will lead to ruin.

Or, instead, choose the Way. He brings peace. Fellowship. Freedom. Grace. Mercy. Sanctification. Salvation. Eternal life, not eternal death. Atonement from the dividing, separating choices we make. Still desiring perfect fellowship with His creation, He gave the solution to the separation. He bridged the gap and gave a Way back from the fall.

But it is our choice. He won’t force us to choose Jesus. He lovingly holds out His hand and offers to pull us up out of the mud and muck. He offers cleansing better than any exfoliator on the market. Robes whiter than your grandmother’s sheets. He offers the fellowship that we turn away from in sin. He covers our sin with the blood of Jesus. Placing on Him every sin that has ever and will ever be confessed.

Our choice.

Knowing Him

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Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Psalm 25:4 (NASB)

Early mornings, in the quiet. The birds are not even singing yet. The only noises come from the house and the keys clicking under my fingers. An occasional flipping of pages can be heard. Sometimes the scratching of a pencil across a page. Coffee sipped from a ceramic mug and refilled again. AirPods in ears usher in sounds of praise in certain moments.

Sitting in a circle. Voices sharing experiences. Evidence of the unseen. His hand working in ways only He understands. Awe-inspiring transformations witnessed in the expressions of beautiful faces. Tears dripping because His goodness has been known.

Cushioned seat. Bible on lap. Pen in hand. Listening guide ready to be filled. Praying for no distractions. Which is a miracle in itself with so many people in attendance. But when the Holy Spirit teaches, He quiets distractions. Praying it isn’t the man on the stage wanting the attention for himself but for God to receive worship.

Standing in line, waiting to check out. People busy choosing and chatting. Buzzing around preparing their purchases. Conversations, not always private. What is heard? Gossip or glory? What is shared? Frustration or freedom?

Driving to work. Thinking through what is to come. Traffic is heavy. Everyone vying for the front of the line. But the line is never-ending. Just keep moving. Watching the clock. Do I let the car out that has been stuck at a stop sign because traffic keeps coming with no break between lights?

That scene was not what I wanted my impressionable child to see. The large screen takes prominent place though. There are choices that can come from it. 

Opportunities abound. Each moment carries with it possibilities of inviting Him into the day.

How will you invite Him into your day? 

Dwelling of God

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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

This passage is sitting and expanding in my mind and heart. Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus, the church living in the middle of an immoral city. The church that is young and far removed from the origins of the Savior they worship. The church that has been given grace and peace and every spiritual blessing. The church that is full of members that were aliens and strangers to the ancestral family of the Savior. The church that has an inheritance of belonging to the family of the Savior, adopted by God Himself. The church that is being built into a dwelling of God.

That right there gets me in the pit of my stomach. And the aching neck and shoulder as I type this. Inside the vessels we have been given to spend our time on earth, resides more than we know or understand. But yet I treat this vessel hard. I am not always honoring the inheritance given to me, through the blood and tears of Christ. The inheritance is invaluable. But yet I disregard what is being built in me. Some may say I even abuse this dwelling place.

Isn’t that what was happening in Ephesus? Was that the example of what not to do for those living in that city? And the immorality wasn’t the only corruption happening. It isn’t the only corruption happening in our modern times.

I sit at a desk for a living. My body is capable of moving. I make a choice to be sedentary.

My food choices are less than healthy. I make the choice to eat the food I eat.

The little black device that literally goes with me everywhere. I choose to pick it up and mindlessly scroll through countless reels and posts.

The anger that rises up in me over inconsequential circumstances depletes my joy. I allow it. My choice.

Jealousy forces me into idolatry. Or is it idolatry that forces me into jealousy? Both and neither. I choose to allow my mind to be consumed so that my heart longs for something other than God.

I sit in a pew Sunday morning. I get up and leave and have done nothing but occupy space and gained knowledge without action. How is that being an active participant in what is being built into a dwelling of God?

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12

Of all the above, it is available to me to choose my response to gifts and treatment of time and resources.

I get to choose action over allowing my body to become stiff and ache from lack of movement.

I get to choose food that will give me energy to be able to move.

I get to choose to lay the black device down. Frees up time for the good stuff.

I get to choose to be angry without allowing it to steal my joy. I will still be angry because, well, you know. But my response can be better, not bitter. I can use it to do good.

I get to enjoy what is not mine without wanting it for myself. I can be thankful for what I have and for what others have. The abundance given to me already far surpasses anything I could need.

I get to sit in that pew. I also get to be a willing participant in being the church, not just sitting in it. There is something for everyone to do and everyone gets to do something. We just have to choose.

The offer is on the table. The dwelling is being built. Will you join?