To Decide or Not to Decide
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision”. Joel 3:14
Joel was an Old Testament prophet thought to have prophesied during the reign of Joash over the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He attempted to warn the nation that judgment was coming, and in order to prevent disaster, the people of Judah must repent of their idolatry and their abandonment of the LORD God. The valley of decision mentioned in the above verse represented the collective gathering of the wicked as they await the doom that is to fall on them. Bible students will know that judgment did come on Judah when Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and captured the people, transporting them to Babylon where they remained for 70 years. Even after Joel’s warnings and the warnings of other prophets, the people of Judah failed to make the right decision to repent and return to the LORD.
Since God always has a remnant of loyal followers, surely there were a few Judeans who did repent because we are told that some were left in Judah to work the land. It seems logical that those were the ones who made the right decision, although, life would have been difficult for them but much better than being a captive in a foreign land. There is a lot to be said about freedom. There were some who outright refused to believe the prophets, even attempting to kill some of them, but there were also those who just decided not to decide. In other words, they ignored the warnings, maybe thinking that if they ignore the prophets, surely, they will go away, and everything will continue on just as it had for many years. The thing about foregoing the opportunity to make a decision is to make a decision, but that may bring about some regrets later on.
My theory is that one’s life is a product of all the decisions he or she makes, both good and bad ones. Some folks are afraid to make a decision because they fear they will make the wrong one. The decisions that are made can affect future generations. A bad decision can cause us grief for a long time, and a good decision can make the road ahead perhaps a little smoother. Most folks don’t bother to think about how the choices they make today might affect them and others in the future. Some folks are apt to make snap decisions based on expediency rather than what’s best for the long term.
There are some situations in which people say that they don’t have a choice. A baby is either born a male or a female except for the rare times that one is born with the features of both male and female. I have never known anyone like that, nor have I known anyone who knows someone with that condition. Thus, it is extremely rare. When a baby is born, he or she doesn’t have a choice about his or her name. That is the choice of the parents. The baby doesn’t have a choice about the environment in which he or she comes into this world, nor a choice about eye color, race, or ethnicity. When we are born, we are what we are, and that can’t be changed no matter what the government, scientists, or doctors say. All of this attempt to influence children to “change” their gender is all about control and about money, making lots of it. If one can be confused about his or her own identity, then he or she can easily be controlled. For just about everything else, though, we have choices, particularly as we become adults.
The most important decision that one can make is to repent of sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as salvation goes, there are only two choices: either receive Christ or reject Him. To not mentally and spiritually receive Him into one’s heart is to reject Him. Thus, for all the folks who think they can remain neutral in answering this life and death question that is asked of everyone, there is no neutrality, no “straddling the fence”, and even putting off that decision when the Holy Spirit knocks at one’s heart is risky because one may not have another opportunity. Never think that you may have another opportunity to become a follower of Christ. God does give many folks many opportunities, but that is no guarantee that everyone will hear that knock on the heart’s door over and over. Jesus told His disciples when sending them out to witness for Him that if folks wouldn’t receive the gospel message for His disciples to shake the dust of the homes of those who rejected the message off of their feet. Did these folks have another opportunity to receive Christ and His gospel? Maybe, but probably not.
For those, and there are multitudes of them, who believe that they can be “good” enough on their own to receive eternal life in heaven, what makes them think that their “good” works can equal the suffering and death of Christ on the cross of Calvary? That is not even logical. A truly thinking person surely should understand that nothing that they can do could ever come within one iota of Christ’s sacrifice that He made to make the way whereby folks can be reconciled with God and spend eternity in heaven. One question: if one believes that his or her “good” works are sufficient to please our holy God, then why in the world did Jesus have to die an excruciatingly painful death to bring salvation to mankind? Consider that before you decide not to decide.