From Some of Today's Readings

"Israel's troops fled....But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field.  He defended it...and the Lord [Jesus Christ] brought about a great victory."  (2 Samuel 23)

"My people have been lost sheep....They have turned...away on the mountains.  They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place." (Jeremiah 50)

"With continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God.  They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, 'Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.'"  (Jeremiah 50)

Away With "Free Will" And "Freedom of Choice"

"If any of you desires to come after Me, let him deny ('disown, repudiate, disregard') himself, take up his cross and follow Me."  (Matthew 16:24)

Man has resisted self-denial, taking up (embrace?) something which was not ours, and following ever since the Garden.  It just sounds too much like servitude.

I did a video the other day taking issue with the cult of "free will."  The phrase is akin to, "Freedom of choice."  The reason I say cult is that too many talk about "free will" with a "Lone Ranger" attitude, or, "Nobody's going to tell me what to do." Americans, particularly, have great trouble with, "deny, disown, repudiate, disregard," oneself. 

For me, I no longer speak of free will.  No, this is not "Calvinism."  When I surrendered my life to Jesus, my will became His will, as in, "Thy will be done."  The only "will," or "choice" which you and I have is at one with Jesus' statement, "....to do the will of Him Who sent me."  

Biblical theology teaches that our will and choice ended in the New Birth.  Our receiving Jesus Christ is not only the best "choice" I every made.  In a very, very real sense, it was the last "choice." 

Father, in Jesus' Name, since You chose me, that is my only "choice."  Amen.


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WOODY'S VIDEO, February 23, 2021

https://youtu.be/zC5cwVO431Y