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Aug 23, 2021 17:00pm

What if?

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What if the choice you make today affects everything in your future?

We can choose what to eat and what not to eat, who to be friends with, where we work, whether or not to go back to college to get a degree, and the list goes on and on. All of these choices will affect what happens in our future.

At the end of the book of Genesis, Jacob is dying. He gathers his sons together to give them his final words as he blesses each of them. As he goes from son to son, he points out certain things about each one – their actions determine their blessing. How they have lived now has an impact on what they will receive.

The blessings and prophecies Jacob gives to each son is determined by their choices in the past. I bet in that moment, many of them were regretting their decisions.

They wish deep down they can have a do-over.

Joseph, of course, receives the greatest blessing. But there is one son I want us to focus on instead, Judah.

If you will recall, the Judah of the past was willing to sell and kill Joseph, but the new Judah has had a change of heart.

There is a dramatic shift in his character from who he used to be.

“‘Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him. He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Judah had been chosen by God to be the linage of Kings. This is where David would come from and the Messiah, Jesus. That is why He is referred to as the Lion of Judah!’” (Genesis 49:9-12)

Judah is an example to us of a changed life. His choice to repent, to turn away from his old ways and humbly come before the throne, changed everything.

While our choices today will affect our future, there is one choice you can make today that will change everything.

You have the choice to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior or to deny Him.

To “not believe” is still a choice to deny Him.

I’ll be frank- this is the most important decision you will ever make, and you need to be serious about it.

Maybe you’ve been hurt by someone and you can’t understand why a loving God would allow that to happen.

Maybe a loved one died, and you are angry at God because you think He took them away from you.

Maybe you see so much hurt and pain in this world and you are mad that God would let that happen.

Or maybe you are so smart you think you are above believing in something you think is a fairytale.

I don’t know why everything happens. But I do know we live in a fallen world. Sin entered the world and began wreaking havoc on the lives of men and women from the beginning.

Like a disease, it spreads rapidly, festering and infecting the host.

The result – death. Not just once, at the end of our life, but an eternal torture and separation from God.

There is no peace.

There is no rest.

There is no “Fly high my friend”.

If you die as a lost sinner, you will spend eternity in a place called hell.

But God prepared a way for you and me. He promised a Messiah to take away our sins, to give us life instead of death and to change our future. He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you!

And today, we have a choice.

We can choose to humbly come before the throne of God and repent. And like Judah, our life will be dramatically changed and our future will too.

I know you need hope.

It’s not found in yourself. I’ve looked.

It’s not found in people.

It’s not found in anything other than Jesus Christ.

How will you spend eternity?

Make your choice today.