The second choice

"My Utmost for His Highest" applied for busy Christians

Chambers' text found here in the original English, and here in the modern English.

The Scripture passage for today is John 6:67: "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

Most Christians understand their first choice: Do I accept Jesus as Savior or not?

Most Christians miss the second choice: Will I surrender to His Lordship or not? The first choice is the difference between eternal bliss and eternal punishment; the second choice is between present power or present uselessness.

Jesus picked twelve disciples as His chosen inner circle, yet one of them betrayed Him, one of them denied Him with oaths, three fell asleep on the hardest night of His life, and most of the rest scurried away in fear when danger presented itself. God picks us to be His children, then (in most cases)** waits to see if we'll respond to His selection.

Even after salvation, many if not most Christians say by the way they live their lives: "Thank you for saving me from eternal punishment, but that's all I need for now. I want to live my life my way." So, it's possible to be saved and still be useless to God.

Staying requires sacrifice, tenacity and patience; while going can often be the easy but meaningless path. We each face not just the choice of salvation, but then the choice for service. Will you walk away, too?

**Some people don't get to decide for themselves because God decides ahead of time they will be saved. (I do NOT believe the Bible teaches that God foreordains some people to Hell, but I do agree it teaches God foreordains salvation to some. ) While that may seem arbitrary from a human perspective, it will surely make sense when we're granted a Biblical perspective in eternity.

So-Whats for Work: Working Christians who surrender to following Jesus return to their jobs equipped with the ability to change lives and cultures; Christians who surrender to the easy path return to their jobs with little potential for making important long-term contributions.

So-Whats for Home: While not always true, the Christian who cannot surrender to Jesus remains a self-absorbed person even in family relationships.

So-Whats for Community: Change brought about by people is temporary and flawed, but the change brought about by people who are being changed by God is eternal and redemptive.

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The second choice

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